KINGSBRIDGE Police Station now has a defibrillator on the outside of the building, accessible to anyone in an emergency.

The South Hams Hospital League of Friends has donated the AED – automatic external defibrillator – machine and the external case to the police.

Colin Pincombe of South Hams Hospital League of Friends said: ’Thanks go to local people whose generosity has enabled the League of Friends to donate this defibrillator for public use outside Kingsbridge police station’.

PC Rich Loxton said: ‘I’m truly grateful to Colin and all at South Hams League of Friends for supplying the AED and the box.

‘I’m conscious though, that I don’t want to put the box there and the community not have the knowledge or the confidence to use it, so we’ll be doing some more HeartStart sessions with the Kingsbridge Estuary Rotary Club to hopefully provide people with that knowledge. ‘Wednesday night’s session at Frogmore showed that although people think they know what to do in an emergency, actually they really don’t.

‘The feedback after the session was fantastic and although we can’t turn people into doctors, hopefully they will be confident enough to use a defibrillator should the need arise.’

Dr Carl Gwinnett, president of the resuscitation council explained the life-saving ability of defibrillators; with the latest data showing that less than eight per cent of people who suffer a cardiac arrest outside a hospital survive.

This increases to 15-24 per cent if the victim is given immediate bystander CPR, the use of an AED [defibrillator] can push this up to over 70 per cent.

Some studies show that if an AED is used to deliver a shock within the first minute of a cardiac arrest, the patient’s heart can be beating on it’s own before paramedics arrive in almost 90 per cent of cases.

Kingsbridge is now covered by open access public defibrillators at the top of Fore Street at the police station, the middle at the entrance to Kings Market and at the bottom at the Ilbert Road Petrol Station. There are also 24/7 accessible defibs at the Kingsbridge Rugby Club at High House and at the Crabshell Inn.

The Kingsbridge Police Station machine is now on our map of local defibrillators. To find out where your nearest one is, visit: tinyurl.com/southhamsdefibs. Remember there is also a QR code for your smartphone on the back of all our papers.