Life saving community public access defibrillators ( CPADs ) are becoming visible in communities across the country and there is now one installed and operable at the Histon & Impington Recreation Ground.

The exact CPAD location is on the side of the Recreation Ground Centre building nearest the car park and the grass tennis courts, and the £2000 cost of the CPAD has been funded by the Friends of Histon & Impington Recreation Ground from the profits from The Flaming June Half Marathon.

The CPAD unit contains an automated external defibrillator or AED which is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia in a patient, and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm.

The CPAD unit is vandal proof with a keypad and, when 999 is dialled, the ambulance service operator will provide a code to the caller to access the unit and the AED is available for immediate use. An untrained person can use the AED with guidance from the 999 operator or instructions contained within the unit.

The provision of a CPAD will enable residents within the village to access the unit and the emergency services operators are aware of the community locations of units. Consideration should perhaps be given to the provision of additional CPADs in the village.

A defibrillator is used together with Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation ( CPR ) and a couple of initial CPR training sessions have been organised in September and October at the Rec. If you are interested in attending please contact Neil Davies ( 01223 232514 ).

You may have heard of Community First Responders who are volunteers who take it on turns to be ‘ on call ‘ in the village and carry basic first aid equipment and a portable defibrillator. The responders are activated by text by the Ambulance Service to attend 999 emergency calls within the community they live or work.

There are a couple of Community First Responders in the village including Angus Macaulay and if you are interested please do call Angus after 7pm on 01223 526616