NEWS FEED
The public now has access to a life-saving defibrillator at Swanage station, thanks to the Swanage Community Defibrillator Partnership.
The Swanage Community Defibrillator Partnership was formed by a group of townspeople who wanted the devices, which use electric shocks to re-start the heart, installed around the seaside town.
An unveiling ceremony for the wall-mounted defibrillator, in its distinctive bright green cabinet, took place with Swanage estate agent and partnership supporter David Corben, who cut the ribbon. David and his brother John sponsored the machine and its cabinet, in memory of their father, the late Eddie Corben, who was a dedicated fundraiser and member of the community in Swanage for many years.
Also involved in defibrillator awareness, education and training work, the Swanage Community Defibrillator Partnership is composed of representatives of Dorset Police, the Coastguard, the National Health Service and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The Partnership’s life-saving work has been endorsed by Swanage Hospital, the town’s health centre and the Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.
Swanage Community Defibrillator Partnership member Ian Brown said: “I would like to thank everyone who has helped purchase and install this defibrillator at Swanage station – as well as five others around the town – because the equipment will help save lives in the event of a heart attack.
“We’re appealing for more donations so we can install defibrillators at the Royal British Legion Club in the High Street, at the town’s hospital and at Herston on the outskirts of Swanage.
“As a result of the partnership’s work, several Purbeck parish councils have expressed interest in purchasing defibrillators with our help – as have organisations, clubs and businesses in Swanage,” added Mr Brown, station officer with the Swanage Coastguard, who lost a valued colleague to a heart attack ten years ago.
So far, the Swanage Community Defibrillator Partnership has raised more than £15,000 and purchased five defibrillators and their cabinets.
New equipment has also been installed at the Swanage School, the coastguard station, the sea rowing club next to the town’s Victorian pier and the seafront tourist information centre on Shore Road.
Thanks to the support of the British Heart Foundation and Dorset Police, a defibrillator has been installed outside the neighbourhood policing team office at Swanage Town Hall in the High Street.
Donations can be left at Corben’s estate agents at 41 Station Road, Swanage.
