The Sussex Heart Charity is delighted to announce that two more publicly accessible life-saving defibrillators are now available in Sussex.
The project was brought to us by Juli, who had chosen to fund an AED for her local community in memory of her son Ewan. Juli’s family were devastated by the sudden death of Ewan aged just 26 and wanted to do something positive to remember him by. After receiving many generous donations, they raised enough money for two AEDs, and we were privileged to work with Juli and part fund the project as part of our ‘AEDs in the Community’ initiative.
The first AED has been installed outside the Hantone Restaurant & Bar on Selbourne Road in Littlehampton, near the location where Ewan sadly passed away. The family felt it was fitting to have an AED placed here to remember Ewan. The restaurant is located just off the seafront, and the new AED will ensure that everyone in this busy residential and tourist area now has access to a defib 24/7.
The second AED is located at the Stonepillow Hostel in Chichester. The Stonepillow charity provide essential support to the homeless community and the family chose this location so that the AED could benefit the charity and the wider community. It is a crucial addition to the local area, as previously the nearest publicly accessible AED was half a mile away.
At such a sad time, we want to thank Juli for her dedication and commitment to the project. We hope to work with Juli again and are already looking to install a new AED in the Bognor Regis area.
We would also like to thank Ragaam at Hantone and Nigel and Katie at Stonepillow for all their help with the installations and ongoing maintenance and guardianship of the AEDs.
Both defibrillators have been registered with The Circuit (the national defibrillator database) and are available for anyone to use 24/7.
Quick defibrillation is so important when someone suffers a cardiac arrest – every minute that passes reduces the chance of survival by 10% – 20%. These two new defibrillators will therefore make a meaningful difference to the safety of local communities and will have a lasting impact that will honour Ewan’s memory.
