Glasgow Sainsbury's unveils public access defibrillator

The Sainsbury’s Local store, on Novar Drive, was able to install the device thanks to a project between St John Scotland and Glasgow City Council's Community Planning Partnership, who jointly funded the device.

The project's aim was to increase access to the life-saving equipment, and has led to eight new public access defibrillators across the west of the city.

The Sainsbury's store was chosen as a prime location, being in the centre of a busy residential area, where it is within easy reach if needed in an emergency.

Around 70 people each week in Scotland have a sudden cardiac arrest, but currently, only around one in 12 will survive.

For each minute that passes without any treatment, the person’s chances of survival drop by 10%. By starting CPR as quickly as possible, and using a defibrillator where one is available, survival rates increase significantly.

Margaret McAdam, Chair of St John Scotland’s Glasgow Area, said: “We know that to be most effective, a defibrillator needs to be used within the first few minutes of the person collapsing. We are keen that every community has access to one of these vital devices, and we realised that there are just not enough defibrillators across Glasgow.

She continued: “We’ve been very pleased to secure funding from the local Area Partnerships to install eight new defibs around the west of Glasgow. We want to thank Sainsbury’s for their great support for the project and for hosting this defibrillator at their store, which will benefit the whole community and hopefully save lives.”

The defibrillator has been installed on the outside of the shop and will be available 24/7 for any member of the public to use in an emergency.

Niall Moody, Manager of Sainsbury’s Novar Drive said: “As a store we are really proud to support this initiative and it's another great opportunity to support the local community. The defibrillator is an amazing piece of equipment and really is very easy to use."