A RETIRED businessman has set up his own charity to get defibrillators in public spaces throughout the town.
When Peter Richard finished work this year he had orginally intended to return to St John’s Ambulance as a volunteer, where he lent a hand for several years before travelling the country for work.
After taking part in some first aid training to bring him back up to speed, he was taught to use the defibrillator. This is when he had his eureka moment and decided to start up Droitwich AED.
He said: “I learned the statistics for survival if someone has a cardiac arrest in Droitwich is less than four percent.
“Today it can take an ambulance up to ten to fifteen messages to get to a call.
“It is not their fault they do an amazing job but with services so stretched, if there is an accident on the motorway and no units are available that person has no chance.
“So if someone drops on the street on a Saturday morning, where do you go? The doctors offices are shut. Where would you find a defibrillator?
“I would like to get them put in places where people will see them regularly and get to know where they are so if anything does happen they can go straight to it.”
Peter is offering a one day emergency first aid course for £30 with all the proceeds going towards each defibrillator which he plans to get installed near supermarkets ATMs and outside the medical centres in the town.
Each unit will cost between £1,500 and £2,000 and Peter is hoping to get six in Droitwich before moving on to surrounding area.
