Jo attended the handover of the Drinkstone Village Hall defibrulator.
An Automated External Defibrillator (AED), a piece of equipment that could save the life of someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest, has been provided free of charge by the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) for the village of Drinkstone, near Bury St Edmunds. The device will be officially handed over by an EEAS Manager to Daphne Youngs, Chair of Drinkstone Parish Council, on Saturday 4th July at 10.30am at the Village Hall (IP30 9SZ), where it will be housed in a special external accessible box.
The new Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds, Jo Churchill, will be in attendance, as well as local Mid-Suffolk Councillor Penny Otton. Ambulance Service Managers expected to be present include Simon Chase, Senior Locality Manager West Suffolk, Gary Morgan, Regional Head of Emergency Operation Centres and Wendy Risdale Barrs, Community Partnership Manager (South Sector-Essex).
The special box in which the defibrillator is housed and the cost of mounting it on an outside wall of the Village Hall, a total of £578, has been met through donations and a grant from Councillor Penny Otton's Locality Budget.
The East of England Ambulance Service has undertaken a project to provide 1000 community AED's in towns and villages throughout the Region, particularly in more remote areas, although many of these are not open to the general public for 24 hours a day.
