A HOMEBUILDING company has donated life saving heart equipment to the Dumbarton community.

Taylor Wimpey West Scotland has donated a public access defibrillator (PAD) to the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Community First Responders to benefit the area.

During 2019, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) charity was employed by Taylor Wimpey to train its employees in CPR skills and provide every one of their building sites in the UK with a defibrillator.

In the UK, there are more than 100,000 hospital admissions each year due to heart attacks, one every five minutes.

Now that work has finished at The Fairways development, near Lomondgate roundabout, Dumbarton is the latest to be gifted a PAD.

Stewart Harris, a volunteer first responder with Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Community First Responders, said: “We can’t thank Taylor Wimpey enough for this defibrillator.

“While we hope that we don’t have to use it very often, it’s fantastic to know that we can access a defibrillator in the event of an emergency and hopefully help to save someone’s life.”

Deryck Schendel, regional health and safety advisor for Taylor Wimpey in Scotland, said: “It’s so important to us that we give something back to the communities in which we’re building.

“Our partnership with the BHF is vitally important in helping to ensure that more defibrillators are available for people who might need them, and we are proud to be able to make this equipment readily accessible in Dumbarton.”

Lucy Martin, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We are delighted that Taylor Wimpey has contributed to the aims of the BHF by making a public access defibrillator available to the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Community First Responders.

“A cardiac arrest is the most serious medical emergency. Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces a person’s chance of surviving by around 10 per cent, but calling 999, starting immediate hands-only CPR and using a defibrillator can significantly increase their chances of survival.”

For more information on CPR, defibrillators and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, or how you can assist BHF, visit bhf.org.uk/cpr.