IN ADDITION to the installation of a Automated External Defibrillator at Sawley Marina, British Waterways Marinas (BWML) Ltd have now installed one at its Diglis Marina in Worcester.
The marinas work with their local ambulance service to get the best advice before installing a defibrillator. In the case of Diglis Marina, it was approached by Mike Burke, Community Defibrillator Facilitator for West Midlands Ambulance Service, who has not only offered advice, but also organised some training for potential users and helped to secure a machine.
Accessible
Being located in Worcester City Centre, the defibrillator at the marina will be accessible by any member of the community and local businesses if they ever need it, and so the training offered has been widened beyond berth holders, with Mike explaining:
"The nearest community public access defibrillators were in the city centre and British Waterways Marinas Ltd. was very keen to get involved. It had already started to get defibrillators in their other marinas as part of its strategy to have them at all the marinas in the UK. After discussion, it agreed to provide the secure cabinet and the electricity supply. West Midlands Ambulance Service provided the defibrillator and the training.
"We trained about a dozen people just before Christmas; they include some of the boaters, staff from the marina and local businesses and instructors at a local gym. It is the intention of the marina now to ask for more formal training for all boaters who have boats in the marina. That's our project for 2016."
Defibrillator in each marina
Julie Cutts, Marina Manager for Diglis Basin, tells us:
"‘We have 19 marinas in the group and eventually we want to have a defibrillator in each of them. I was approached by Mike Burke who said he could get a defibrillator for us so we provided the cabinet. It was always our desire to have a defibrillator here in Diglis and Mike's timing in offering us one was brilliant."