All Edinburgh Trams now have a defibrillator in a special holder in the middle of the tram, ready to be used if and when necessary. The life-saving equipment has been provided by the fundraising efforts of St John Scotland along with some help from The City of Edinburgh Council and Transport for Edinburgh and Edinburgh Trams.
These machines are now there for anyone on the tram, or indeed in the vicinity of the tram.
The aim of the project is to place life saving devices at strategic sites – known as Hosts – across Edinburgh, taking into account the volume of people in the immediate vicinity. The project has involved St John Scotland’s Edinburgh committee teaming up with various businesses – or donors – around the city to place life-saving defibrillators in key locations, now including Edinburgh’s tram network.
Businesses – or donors – who have provided the necessary funding for the defibrillators on Edinburgh’s trams include Royal Bank of Scotland, Virgin Money, Montague Evans, Charlie Miller, GLM, Phillips and Laerdal, and Newtyne Consultancy and Training. Donations from the public and money raised through St John Scotland’s Edinburgh fundraising events also contributed towards the defibrillators which cost £1500 each.
Well done to all involved in the St John and the City project #defibrillators for #ValentinesDay pic.twitter.com/xDIUuZ9x1b
— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) February 14, 2017
Yesterday all available media went to the Tram Depot to meet Annie. She is the model that the Scottish Ambulance Service use to show how to use a defibrillator.
And we are told it is a simple system to use.
The Lord Provost told us : “The point is that the modern ones are so simple, that literally anybody can use them. It talks to you! It talks you through instructions on how to use it. It’s very, very easy. Two buttons – ON and SHOCK. So you put the paddles on and then you press SHOCK and that’s it. The other thing is that if a shock is not needed, then it is not given. The machine assesses so you can’t do any harm.”
Mark Strudwick the Prior of The Order of St John said: “I’m absolutely thrilled, Its been a very successful project. Its been very imaginative and very innovative, but I am particularly grateful to The Lord Provost and George Lowder of Transport for Edinburgh.”
George Lowder is the CEO of Transport for Edinburgh and he explained : “We are delighted – Transport for Edinburgh and Edinburgh Trams are delighted to be working in partnership with St John Scotland and their very generous donors on this project. So today we are rolling out 17 defibrillators on 17 of our working trams
We asked the transport boss if it would be Lothian Buses next? He replied: “What we have decided to do with the project is to embed this part as a first step. It will take some time to roll out to understand how it is operating on the tram line on the existing tram line. We have undertaken to then consider with St John Scotland what we do next.
And finally a word from one of the sponsors, Charlie Miller Hairdressing. Josh Miller explained why they decided to get involved : “It is really simple. We’ve got a family business that has been in this city for fifty years and this project is for the people and for the city of Edinburgh. So it was really a no-brainer when we were asked we knew right away that this was the right thing to do because it is going to give this lifeline across the city. It’s fantastic, a great idea”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
