Lives are set to be saved in Suffield Green thanks to an innovative new emergency defibrillator cabinet installed by Suffield Parish Council. The solar and wind-powered cabinet is a bespoke design by Turtle Medical and is fitted to an existing brick and tiled roof bus shelter in the Norfolk village.
Suffield has a defibrillator cabinet at its village hall, but with approximately two miles between Suffield and Suffield Green, the Parish Council wanted to ensure all residents had immediate access to a defibrillator.
Suffield Parish Council initially investigated whether a defibrillator cabinet could take power from an old telephone box site. It wasn’t possible and upon searching for another solution, Councillors then came across Turtle Medical’s solar and wind-powered defibrillator cabinet, a stand-alone unit designed for locations where power is not available.
The Parish Council also saw Turtle had designed a bespoke solar cabinet bus shelter in Creswell, Staffordshire. While that installation was a new metal shelter, designed with the manufacturer, Councillor Karen Harris approached Turtle to ask whether Suffield Green’s existing brick bus shelter could be adapted in a similar way.
Karen Harris, Councillor at Suffield Parish Council, said: “Everyone at Turtle is terrific, so helpful and nice. Mike designed the whole thing from photos and measurements, then came to install it.
“We do have an aging population in Suffield parish, so everybody is very pleased. This brings peace of mind to many people. If you don’t live in a small village, it’s something you might not think about, but there are a lot of places with no village hall or pub or even church building to utilise for power.”
The bus shelter has two solar panels on its pitched roof and a wind turbine. These green power sources heat the cabinet and ensure the defibrillator is kept at the correct temperature to be rescue ready at all times. Suffield Parish Council selected a combined cabinet, meaning it houses a public defibrillator and also an emergency bleed control kit; bleed kits contain all the components required to stem a severe bleeding injury.
The installation gives people in Suffield Green immediate access to a defibrillator and an emergency bleed control kit. Suffield Parish Council have registered the defibrillator on The Circuit and The Daniel Baird Foundation control the bleed kit on Bleed Map.
In an emergency, people should call 999 and they will be directed to their nearest defibrillator or bleed kit. Communities – especially in rural areas – can respond quickly to cardiac arrest and severe bleeding injuries before the arrival of the emergency services.
Councillor Harris continued: “There must be many villages like ours in Norfolk alone, so I hope more people see this innovation and consider it for their communities.
“Next for us is organising a demonstration of the defibrillator and CPR for residents, so they feel more confident in an emergency. We’re delighted to have learnt about emergency bleed control kits too and the people of Suffield can also respond quickly to severe bleeding injuries, which is fantastic.”
Mike Dowson, Managing Director of Turtle Medical, said: “We are very grateful to Suffield Parish Council for giving us the opportunity to design this bespoke, lifesaving bus shelter. What makes this project especially exciting is that it shows commitment and creativity can protect people from cardiac arrest and bleed injuries anywhere.
“Suffield Green didn’t have mains power available and our stand-alone solar and wind powered defib cabinet wasn’t quite right for the picturesque village. We happily put our designing hat on to make the bus shelter a lifesaving hub. Nothing should prevent communities from having access to emergency medical equipment, especially those who are miles away from the nearest hospital; but naturally we hope the equipment is never needed.”
The innovative manufacturer of defibrillator and bleed control cabinets, bleed control kits and supplier of medical equipment also designed DefibTrack and DefibMonitor. These technologies allow AED guardians to GPS track them when deployed and to undertake equipment checks remotely.
