New life-saving defibrillator at Queen’s Park, Heywood

Paul Whiting, Lisa Kimpton, Barbara Bayliss, Councillor Jacqueline Beswick, Councillor Peter Rush with the Queen's Park defibrillator

A life-saving defibrillator has been located at the lodge in Queen's Park, Heywood adjacent to the main entrance, installed inside a secure, external cabinet which ambulance service operators can direct callers to if someone suffers a cardiac arrest. Callers will be given the code to unlock the cabinet, and use the defibrillator on the person, before an ambulance arrives; tripling their chances of survival.

Queen’s Parks’ Parkrun UK team requested the defibrillator, funded by the council’s Heywood Township Committee, to improve the health and safety provision at their parkrun events which take place every Sunday.

Barbara Bayliss, Parkrun UK ambassador, said: “This defibrillator will be available to all park visitors 24 hours a day, 365 a year. We are very grateful to the council for helping us, the park and the local community be heart safe.”

Queen’s Park is a Green Flag award-winning park which boasts an estimated 160,000 visitors each year. It is also home to 45 junior Parkrun runners, and their families who take part in the free and fun 2k run at 9am every Sunday.

The Parkrun volunteers and park staff will be trained to perform CPR and the defibrillator so that they can help anyone suffering a cardiac arrest in the first three minutes to increase their chances of survival from 6% to 74%.

Councillor Jaqueline Beswick, Rochdale Borough Council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: Cardiac arrests do not discriminate between age or physical health, anyone can suffer one, in fact 12 young people die each week due to sudden cardiac arrest. That is why it is so fantastic that we have another defibrillator installed in the heart of the community where our families and children come to have fun and others come to exercise.

"It means they can do so with peace of mind that if the worst happens, lifesaving equipment and help is available.”

The Queen’s Park defibrillator is one of the latest to be installed as part of the life-saving ‘Roch Defibs’ project; a council and North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) partnership project which aims to increase the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest in the borough.

The locations of defibrillators in the borough and guides on how to use them are available at www.rochdale.gov.uk/defibs