A LIFE-SAVING defibrillator and a bleed kit costing £2k have been installed in Halesowen thanks to a community campaigner.

They were put up at Merryvale Nursery on Merrivale Road yesterday (Monday April 26) after a fundraising campaign by Stuart Henley.

The Swan pub on Long Lane and Express Taxis on Dudley Road, have also agreed to have defibs after being contacted by Stuart.

To use defibs people must call 999 when they are given a code to open it and instructions on how to use it.

The code changes each time it is used.

Bleed kits contain items such as a tourniquet to stem catastrophic bleeding in the event of a knife attack.

The equipment

The equipment

Stuart, who is standing for the Conservative party in Halesowen North in next week's local elections, said: "Merryvale Nursery had previously started a fund raiser to get a defib installed, but due to covid they had put it on hold.

"They were pleased when I approached them and volunteered to help.

"Along with the defib I also got a bleed kit.

"This was installed yesterday and will be registered with 999 call handlers very soon.

"As a firefighter of almost 23 years I know how important it is to save as much time as possible in emergency situations.

"These defibs and bleed kits will save lives whilst waiting for the emergency services to attend.

"Every minute counts.

"Hopefully they will never be used, but are there in times of need."

Fundraising is continuing - with the appeal at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/halesowennorthdefibs?utm_id=119.

Each full kit set up including fitting costs around £2k.

The chances of survival after a cardiac arrest can increase from 6 per cent to 74 per cent if a defibrillator and CPR are used within the first three to five minutes of collapse.

Less than one in 10 people in the UK survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, partly because there aren’t enough people prepared to perform CPR when someone has a cardiac arrest and there aren’t enough defibrillators.