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A Liversedge nursing home is raising money for a ‘community’ defibrillator - as the nearest other piece of life-saving equipment is over a five minute walk away.

Seven staff members at Ings House Nursing Home, on Bradford Road, have recently qualified as first aiders after completing the training course with St John Ambulance.

But they have been left concerned that the nearest defibrillator - a high-energy electric shock treatment device for people who suffer cardiac arrest - is located at St Andrew’s Methodist Church, further down Bradford Road towards Cleckheaton.

Research shows that the chances of a person surviving a cardiac arrest decreases by 10 per cent for every minute without access to a defibrillator.

Fundraising for a defibrillator at Ings House Nursing Home, Liversedge. Back, from the left, Shirley Fowler, Jenny Watson, Julie Barker, Katie Mulholland and Kate Rankin. Front, Margaret Reynolds, left, and Marjorie Fraser.

Nurses at Ings House, led by Kate Rankin and Marie Armitage, are now generating ideas and organising events to try and raise money for their own defib, which could be used by ‘everybody’ in the local community.

Kate said: “Our closest defibrillator is at St Andrew’s Methodist Church which means a staff member would have to run all the way up there to come all the way back.

“For me personally, it would take about five or six minutes to walk there, running about three minutes. You have also got to speak to 999 to get the code for the boxes which wastes another couple of minutes because you have got to actually get through to the paramedics as well.

“If you can use one within the first three minutes, the chances of survival increase massively.

“We want to get as much community support as possible because it’s not just for us as a home, it’s for everybody.

“I think there are about eight of them in Mirfield but in Liversedge I think we have only got two or three. And we have got quite an older population. There are a lot of bungalows nearby that house a lot of elderly people.

“It’s not just for the people in the home; we have lots of relatives and visitors coming in, and lots of staff who work here who could need it.

“If we can actually have one fitted to one of our walls on the outside of the building it’s there for everybody to use.

Nurses at Ings House, led by Kate Rankin (pictured) and Marie Armitage, are now generating ideas and organising events to try and raise money for their own defib, which could be used by ‘everybody’ in the local community.

“We need about £1,600. We’re thinking about setting up a JustGiving page and we’ve also got an Easter party charity event on Good Friday, with all the money going towards the defib.

“We’re just trying to come up with as many activities as possible.”

Liversedge nursing home raising money for ‘community’ defibrillator