Aylesbury nursery celebrates purchase of new community defibrillator

An Aylesbury nursery has celebrated the arrival of a new defibrillator which will serve people in the local neighbourhood.

Last Thursday (22 June) Mr Reed, the head of Broughton Community Schools, and Stacey Jeffs, the Manager of Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery in Aylesbury unveiled the new machine.

They shared ribbon cutting duty to officially ‘open’ the new defibrillator that has been placed on the wall of Kings Wine on Parton Road.

Stacey, encouraged and supported by Monkey Puzzle Aylesbury, has led the campaign for the community to come together to provide this vital life-saving piece of equipment.

Mr Reed helped by raising awareness about the scheme and encouraging parents and staff at his school to donate towards the defibrillator.

Families of those attending Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery, the school, local shops such as More+, 2D print world, Onestop, TCI Frydays and other individuals, all donated.

The children at the nursery have learnt about helping others, and the Pupil Parliament at Broughton School has been able to discuss the needs of the local community by taking part in a project that will inevitably save lives.

Members of The Pupil Parliament were able to show the defibrillator to local Councillor, Richard Lloyd, who was impressed by this project. Passers-by, councillor, teachers, school children, nursery staff and directors joined Stacey and Mr Reed in celebrating this momentous occasion with cakes and refreshments.

The nearest defibrillator was 0.8 miles away - too far for emergency call handlers to use. Now anyone in the vicinity is able to use this community facility in an emergency.

It is available 24 hours a day and seven days a week and can be changed between paediatric and adult pads depending on who needs it. It is designed to be used by anyone without prior training, and it also has a built-in storage card that will read the patient’s ECG (electrocardiogram) which the ambulance service will download when they arrive. Access to the machine is given when 999 is dialled requesting assistance, and an ambulance is despatched.

One resident said that if there had been one when her husband had needed it, then he might have survived, but she was grateful that someone else’s life might be saved.