Members of Wokingham Community First Responders (CFR) have raised the £2,000 needed to buy a defibrillator and secure lock box for Dinton Pastures Country Park in Hurst.
The CFR responders have also donated their time and additional funds to train Dinton Pastures staff in how to use and maintain the life-saving device located at the Dragonfly Café, and provide a ten-year support package.
CFR is an ambulance service volunteer group that attends potentially life-threatening incidents helping to save lives by being at a scene very quickly in those crucial first few moments before paramedics arrive.
They are trained by South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust to provide life-saving treatment, and there are more than 400 CFR schemes across the south central region.
Dinton Pastures is a popular Wokingham Borough Council country park with high numbers of visitors each year enjoying its many activities from walking to outdoor sports such as swimming and sailing.
It is because of this diverse demographic of users that Wokingham CFR felt Dinton would benefit from a defibrillator as a community resource.
Its volunteer members raised the funds through events, street collections and donations from residents in Wokingham, Barkham, Finchampstead and surrounding areas. The electrical cost of its installation, in the region of £400, has been covered by the Hurst Village Partnership.
The lock box can only be opened on a 999 call to the ambulance service. The defibrillator is designed to be used without any training, and the 999 operator will talk the person on the end of the line through its operation.
"I’d like to say a big thank you to Wokingham Community First Responders and Hurst Village Partnership for providing us with the funding, training and ongoing support to make this community resource available at one of our busiest country parks in the borough," said Cllr Angus Ross, executive member for the environment.
Nicola Wright, paramedic and CFR scheme coordinator for Wokingham, said: "The decision to donate a defibrillator to Dinton Pastures was because we wanted to give something back to the people of the Wokingham Borough as a thank you for their generous donations."
