Noble effort by local business sees defibrillator installed in Castleford

Chris Noble, Managing Director of Noble Homes, paid for the defibrillator to be installed on the wall outside his offices, on the left side of the main entrance of D Noble Ltd, Noble House on Perseverance Street.

It’s registered on the 999 database meaning if anyone was to call for help, the operator could locate it and give the caller the code to open it.

Chris, who is also chairman of the Castleford Taskforce, said “I saw one of my close friends from the gym having a heart attack and fortunately the gym had a defibrillator, were able to revive him and he is now in good health.

“We looked at purchasing a defibrillator to cover all the people who work in our office and the adjacent industrial units that we rent or own.

“We could have bought a relatively inexpensive defibrillator but in our research we found that the nearest defibrillator was some distance away and it is recommended that a defibrillator should be available within a 5 minute return walk in the event of one being required. We therefore decided to take the initiative and partner with AED Donate in order to have one installed on the outside of our office for the benefit of the community and are pleased to confirm now that the same is fitted and working.

“In the event of anyone needing access, all they would need to do is to ring 999 and the call handler will be able to tell them the correct code in order to open the cabinet to extract the defibrillator and talk them through the procedure.

“I hope the defibrillator will never be needed.”

AED Donate is a national charity committed to improving survival from out of hospital cardiac arrests, It supports the placement and use of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) to local communities.

They achieve this by giving communities the opportunity to fundraise or purchase an AED which can then be registered with their local ambulance trust for use in an emergency.

Wakefield Council Leader, Coun Denise Jeffery, said: “I’d like to thank Chris for his generous contribution in providing life-saving equipment to our area.

“Having a defibrillator available and accessible to our community, on the street, means the potential to save lives.

“According to the British Heart Foundation, defibrillation or CPR that happens quickly can almost double a person’s chances of surviving an out of hospital cardiac arrest.

“We hope this will never happen but now we have the peace of mind that, if it does, we can give our residents the best chance of survival.”

Yvette Cooper, Normanton, Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley MP, added: “Huge thank you to Chris and the team at Noble Homes for funding a new defibrillator which is a real boost for coverage in Castleford. These machines save lives. No one ever wants to be in the position of needing to use one, but it's really reassuring to know that the equipment is there if needed."