THE community in Wylam has worked together to purchase a life-saving device for the village.

When Paul Johnson and Kelly Hopkins took over the The Ship Inn in Wylam in July 2017, they said they noticed the lack of a defibrillator device in the surrounding areas.

They decided to make Wylam a “Heartsafe” village, organising fund-raising dinner, raffle and auction at the pub to raise the funds needed.

The whole community banded together to raise over £1,300 for the purchase, and with help from Cardioproof UK, the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) was bought, installed at the pub, registered and is now ready to use.

The Ship Inn is holding a first aid and AED training session at the pub on Saturday, December 8 at 3pm. Members of the village will be show CPR and how to use the AED in the event of cardiac arrest.

Paul said: “It’s fantastic when members of a community come together and make great things happen.”

Dr Michael Norton from Cardioproof said: “In the North East, approximately 1600 people per year receive a resuscitation attempt for a cardiac arrest that has occurred outside of hospital. Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces survival by 10 per cent. An AED is a device that can safely deliver an electric shock to restart the heart.”