Business group installs sixth city defibrillator

The sixth defibrillator has been installed at Cathedral Lanes

Coventry's Business Improvement District (BID) has installed a sixth defibrillator and bleed control kit in the city centre.

The group, which represents businesses in the city and is funded by a levy on them, said it wanted to make sure they were easily accessible wherever needed.

The first was installed last year at the Skydome and the most recent is now available at Cathedral Lanes.

The defibrillators have been welcomed by the Our Jay Foundation, which was set up in memory of 18-year-old Jamie Rees, who collapsed and later died after having a cardiac arrest.

Naomi Rees-Issitt, Jamie's mum and chair of the OurJay Foundation, said: "Ensuring that this vital lifesaving equipment is accessible to the community 24/7 means so much to us all at OurJay Foundation and every single site reminds us of how many lives could potentially be saved, in memory of our precious Jamie."

The BID said the work to install the six defibrillators had been a "major project".

Its chief executive, Joanne Glover, said: "Our objective when we started this work last year was to create a network of defibrillators and bleed control cabinets that would be easily accessible to anyone within the ring road."

She said this would help the city centre cope in the event of an emergency.

The other kits are available in Lower Precinct, on Smithford Way next to the outdoor entrance of WHSmith at West Orchards Shopping Centre, opposite Baxter Baristas on Millenium Place and outside Coventry BID's offices at Holt Court on Warwick Row.

There are also defibrillators at other premises in the city centre, listed on a national register of the machines which emergency services can use to guide callers.