Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

First aid expert: Families living in rural Perthshire communities need to know where defibrillators are

Rural Perthshire defibrillators
Member of the defibrillator project Amanda Farquhar and Chairwoman of St John Perth and Kinross Janice Webster at the Chapelhill defibrillator in Logiealmond.

A first aid trainer is urging families in rural Perthshire communities to check where their nearest defibrillators are so they can provide CPR in an emergency.

Janice Webster, chair of St John Scotland’s Perth and Kinross committee, says awareness around the importance of first aid has grown following the high profile case of cardiac arrest in Danish footballer Christian Eriksen.

Volunteers have teamed up with Save a Life for Scotland which aims to train at least one million people by 2026.

That includes every schoolchild in Scotland.

But accessing a defibrillator in rural Perthshire and Kinross can be difficult.

The group have recently helped set up defibrillators in locations such as Logiealmond and Glenalmond following the sudden death of a local dad.

There is also a higher risk of excessive waiting times for emergency services so being first aid trained can be the “difference between life and death”.

That’s why St John Scotland is helping these communities become first aid trained by helping to support defibrillator installations and providing vital CPR training.

A defibrillator in Harrietfield, near Glenalmond, Perthshire.

Janice said: “Doing CPR is absolutely vital and it could be the difference between life and death.

“In rural areas it can be quite some time before an ambulance arrives so having a defibrillator in the community gives people confidence that if something did happen, there’s something there that can quickly help.”

Demand for first aid training

Parents, grandparents and children are extremely keen to learn the lifesaving skills.

The demand has grown as more defibrillators become available across communities and St John has a waiting list of those hoping to learn the skills once training resumes.

Janice said: “By 2026, the idea is that all schoolchildren will know how to do first aid.

“Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone of any age so people are really eager to learn and the more defibrillators there are in the community, the more demand there is for training.

“Those who can’t do CPR themselves still have the skills to talk people through how to do it so it can be really important for young people to learn.”

Janice wants to see all schoolchildren trained in the lifesaving skills as soon as possible in case a family member or friend suffers cardiac arrest.

“A child of five can save a life with the right training. If the next generation does it as a matter of course without having to think about it then more lives will be saved.”

Conversation