Paramedic's campaign sees defibrillators at homes

Kerry Wood and Karen Stephens are part of the Evesham Defibrillators campaign

A paramedic's campaign has led to 14 defibrillators being installed on people’s homes in a Worcestershire town.

Kerry Wood began bidding to improve access to the life-saving devices in Evesham while she was a student.

It came after she realised it could take 40 minutes to transport people in cardiac arrest to Worcestershire Royal Hospital A&E.

Since installing an automated external defibrillator (AED) on her own home in October, more and more people have offered their properties.

More than £1,000 has been raised and the new devices have been put up on walls on housing estates across the town.

Ms Wood, now a qualified paramedic, told BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester that it quickly became clear residents “wanted defibs everywhere”.

"These are going to save lives. There are that many of them and we’re not stopping here," she said.

Ms Wood said the devices have already been used on patients three times.

Karen Stephens recently had a defibrillator installed at her home in Woodland Piece.

“I work very close by. They have a defibrillator but it’s behind a closed gate," she said.

"So I thought if anything happened on my estate, there isn’t one close by that I could easily access.”

Evesham Defibrillators is raising money both for more defibs and to pay for their maintenance.

About £6,700 is needed to maintain the AEDs over the next five years, including paying for replacing the batteries, pads and cleaning them.