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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.
Another defibrillator was installed in the village, paid for by Burgess Hill Lions, is located at the St Peter & St James Hospice Distribution Centre on Albourne Road.
The most recent defibrillator has been installed at the Sportsman Pub in Goddards Green. The unit was kindly donated by Downlands School.
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. Plus, if you are on the phone to 999, the operator will be able to talk you through using these public devices in real time.
A good place for more information is the British Heart Foundation’s website: www.defibfinder.uk - which gives a live listing to all registered defibs, plus FAQs about using them. 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.
