New defibrillator at St John Base

A new Public Access Defibrillator is now available at Arran Mountain Rescue, St John Base, Cladach.

The C & C Group (Tennets Caledonian Breweries UK ltd) in partnership with St John Scotland have donated a Public Access Defibrillator in memory of their colleague Laura Henderson who suffered from a cardiac arrest whilst out on a run.

Stephen Dickson and David Adams represented C & C Group at the unveiling. Jess Duncan (Chair of Ayrshire and Arran St John Scotland) and Ewan McKinnon (Leader, Arran Mountain Rescue) were also present at the unveiling which took place on the 4th of March 2023.

St John Scotland follows up each installation with bystander CPR and defibrillator awareness training. St John Scotland want to help people in the community feel reassured that if a situation may arise that they would have the knowledge and be confident enough to assist someone who is having a cardiac arrest.

The unveiling was followed up with training which was delivered by Brian Gibson and Colin McCormick assisted by the Arran Mountain Rescue volunteers.

Ewan McKinnon leader of Arran Mountain Rescue said: "We were delighted to be able to host St John Scotland at our base for such a worthwhile event. SJS have provided incredible support to AMRT over the years, providing our first team vehicle in 2004 and funding our team base a few years later, transforming the workings of the team and greatly improving our ability to respond to incidents in the Arran Hills and we are glad to be able to support them in this way.'' Ewan added: ''A special thanks to David Adams and Stevie Dickson whose fundraising efforts in memory of their work colleague Laura allowed the new public access defibrillator to be installed at our base.’’ 

Chair of St John Scotland in Ayrshire & Arran, Jess Duncan, said: “St John Scotland Ayrshire and Arran is delighted to partner with Arran Mountain Rescue Team, with whom we have a long association, in providing a public access defibrillator at their Base in Cladach on the Isle of Arran. This lifesaving device was very generously funded by Laura Henderson’s colleagues and her former employer, C&C Group (Tennents) We were thrilled to have Stephen Dickson and David Adams from C&C at the unveiling of the defibrillator and thank them for their extraordinary fundraising efforts.” Jess added: “Our thanks to Ewan McKinnon, Leader, and all of the team at AMR for their very warm welcome and invaluable assistance with our training in bystander CPR and defibrillator awareness.” 

The story was published in the Arran Banner: Click here to view published article.