Woodham Burn Primary School has taken delivery of a public access defibrillator (AED).

The defibrillator has been positioned in the main school Junior reception area and during term time the wider community have access to it should the need arise.

Head teacher Mrs Edwards said: “Having access to defibrillators in school and the community is vital and we feel honoured to have this life-saving piece of equipment in our school. “In return, we would like it to be used as a community public access defibrillator during school term time while school is open. “Hopefully, we can help raise awareness of the importance of knowing where community defibrillators are located throughout our school community.”

We hope this defibrillator never has to be used but the easy-to-use machine could mean the difference between life and death for someone suffering a cardiac arrest.

Jay Steward, Chair of Governors – who is the chief pilot of the local Great North Air Ambulance Service obtained the AED through Cardioproof, a non-profit organisation founded and based in the North East of England whose primary objective is to significantly improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest, through raising awareness, increasing the number of people able to perform CPR, and improving the availability of community defibrillators across the region. Jay said “Having witnessed first-hand the result of a successful use of an AED during the course of my work I understand the value of as many of these being located in and around our community as possible. Put simply they save lives”