RESIDENTS in Yelverton will have access to life-saving equipment thanks to an initiative between the local Rotary club, parish council and doctors’ practice.

The Rotary Club of Yelverton in conjunction with Buckland Monachorum Parish Council and Yelverton Surgery have installed a defibrillator outside the surgery.

In addition to installing the defibrillator, the Rotary club is soon to start courses to teach the essential skills that an automated external defibrillator (AED) operator needs. Most importantly, the course will teach defibrillator operators how to perform effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The club has purchased a training defibrillator, the same make as the one fitted outside the surgery. Courses will be held in Yelverton during early evening or Saturday mornings, lasting less than one hour, starting in April.

Yelverton Rotary Club president Ross Dent said: ‘A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. A person’s chance of survival falls by about 10 per cent for each minute that passes without defibrillation.

‘We want this to become a local community project offering a training opportunity to anyone in the Yelverton area in order to widen the scope of awareness and practise. This course will provide you with confidence to act quickly and effectively.’

To register interest in attending the free course, visit www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=1700 or email [email protected] with your name and contact details or visit the doctors surgery at Yelverton where there is a clipboard in the reception area.