At Hurst Life we’d like to encourage everyone living and working in the village to familiarise themselves with the sites of the life-saving defibrillator machines and learn how to use them.

An estimated 60,000 people each year in the UK have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and, sadly, less than 10% of those people will survive. Yet if a bystander is able to start CPR they could double a person’s chances of survival.

Hurstpierpoint has seven machines: one on the outside wall at the Fairfield Rec on Cuckfield Road, another is situated at the bowls club on South Avenue Rec, a third is inside the medical centre on Trinity Road and one is mounted on the wall in the alleyway next to Morley’s on the High Street. There are also defibs available at Court Bushes Community Hub and the Village Centre. Both of these units can be unlocked by a code given by the 999 operator.
The most recent defibrillator to be installed in the village was paid for by Burgess Hill Lions, and is located at the St Peter & St James Hospice Distribution Centre on Albourne Road.

In Sayers Common, there is one on the outside wall of the Community Shop (by the door to the hall), while in Albourne there is one inside the primary school, in the gym of Wickwoods Country Club (up Shaves Wood Lane) and one mounted on the outside wall of Albourne Village Hall, to the right of the entrance doors. Not all of these will be available 24/7 but the outside ones listed (pictured) should be.

All of the machines are portable and contain full instructions, but why not give yourself a head start with an online tutorial? The Resuscitation Council (UK) has produced plenty of information to help us all learn more about what to do in these dramatic and highly pressured times, should we find ourselves involved. You can watch videos and play interactive games to increase your understanding. You can even download an app - see www.resus.org.uk/apps/lifesaver for more information.

Please give it a go. If you have any information about changes to these defibrillators, then do please let us know, so we can update our knowledge for next time.