Around 75 per cent of North Midlands clubs are now equipped with a defibrillator thanks to an intitiative between the county and Community Heartbeat Trust.
North Midlands provided funding to help with the purchase and maintenance of defibrillators and a significant number of clubs including Church Stretton, Ledbury, Aston Old Edwardians, Pershore, Yardley & District, Shrewsbury, Old Saltleians, Old Halesonians, Aldridge, Bournville, Kings Norton and Warley have benefited from the initiative.
Dudley Kingswinford have signed up to the WebNos – the 10 year monitoring and maintenance programme.
There are now 46 North Midlands clubs with defibrillators at their own facility or who have access at a shared facility.
If any clubs who do not yet have a defibrillator are interested in installing this potentially life-saving equipment please contact the CHT at: secretary@communityheartbeat.org.uk for advice on the most appropriate equipment for your site.
The CHT is a charity that has worked with the RFU for a number of years, including providing defibrillators at venues for the WorldCup 2015 and offering advice on the most appropriate equipment, installation and continued monitoring.
CHT can arrange a link up to WebNOS for any club with a defibrillator. This is the online tool that helps clubs keep the appropriate record of the checks, maintenance, and use of their defibrillators. Not only does this help clubs to comply with their governance arrangements by keeping essential records, but it can also remind people when the checks are due.
Any defibrillator can be registered for use with WebNOS, and it can link with the ambulance service so that they know the status of any defibrillators that are available for use by the community.
