Train operator East Midlands Railway (EMR) is to install defibrillators at 22 stations across its network.
All of them will be made as easy to use as possible, with instructions built into every unit in the case of someone suffering a cardiac arrest.
The defibrillators use a technology which can analyse people’s heart rhythms to see if an electric shock is needed — and will automatically do so if that is the case.
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Making sure a defibrillator is close greatly ensures a person’s chances of survival if they have a cardiac arrest. The British Heart Foundation says survival reduces by 10% every minute it takes to get a defibrillator to someone who needs the lifesaving shock.
Station adopters and community rail partnerships helped to decide where the defibrillators would be put.
Phil Thomas, a station adopter at Radcliffe Station, said he was delighted that a defibrillator had been installed at his local station. “The importance of having a defibrillator readily accessible to help someone in an emergency situation is life saving,” he said. “We are very grateful to EMR for placing a unit at our local station in Radcliffe on Trent adding to the network we have around the village.”
Donna Adams, community engagement manager, said: “Each second counts when someone has a cardiac arrest, and with many thousands of people passing through our stations each day, they are ideal places to install a defibrillator.
“We are pleased to be able to contribute to such an important project and bring such vital equipment to communities right across the region we serve.”
The units will be fitted at the following stations:
- Belper
- Blythe Bridge
- Burton On Trent
- Chesterfield
- Crewe
- Derby
- Duffield
- Kettering
- Leicester
- Lincoln
- Long Eaton
- Loughborough
- Matlock Bath
- Narborough
- Nottingham
- Radcliffe
- Skegness
- Tutbury and Hatton
- Wellingborough
- Whatstandwell
- Whitwell
- Willington
