Turriff CPR session highlights new defibrillator location

Turriff CPR session highlights new defibrillator location
The latest addition to the network of publicly accessible defibrillators in Turriff was highlighted to the community this week, with a special CPR training session held at the Haughs.

Through the efforts of locals Morag Lightning through Turriff Community Sports Hub and Gill Gaul for Turriff Show, the new unit was installed recently on the Pavilion building and is now in operation.

Discussion had taken place over the locations of units within Turriff and it was decided that the eastern end of the Haughs lacked available cover.

The Wednesday evening, the pavilion hosted a free session in CPR run by Ian Hendry of the Wildcat Responders which saw members of several groups and locals learn how the unit operates and how to react in a situation where it may be required.

Commenting Ian said: “I’d like to express my thanks to Morag Lightning and Gill Gaul and to everyone who attended the session and very much appreciate the donation received which enables the Scottish Ambulance Service Wildcat Responders to continue to offer familiarisation sessions to raise awareness of the importance of early recognition of a cardiac arrest and early CPR.

"These are the early links in the chain of survival which if put in place, will help enable the best possible outcome for the patient."

"Historically, survival rates for OHCA (out of hospital cardiac arrests) in Scotland have been less than 5 per cent but following the implementation of a strategy to improve this statistic back in 2015, significant progress has been made with bystander CPR now being at 64 per cent compared to the previous figure of 43 per cent and survival rates improving from 5 per cent to 10 per cent.

"However, these figures remain behind other Countries with similar populations so there remains a great opportunity to further improve things.

"The strategy was refreshed in 2021 and continues to focus on community engagement and improving the level of bystander CPR carried out.”