PEOPLE in Ludlow are being urged to learn to save a life.

As reported previously in the Advertiser, Ludlow Town Council was asked to help provide public access defibrillators in Ludlow.

A defibrillator will soon be installed in Ludlow but volunteers are needed to learn how to use it, and we’re backing the campaign being run by the council and West Midlands Ambulance Service to find heart starters for the town.

In Britain, each year 135,000 people die from sudden cardiac arrest. It is estimated that 85 per cent of these victims could be saved with rapid treatment from an automated external defibrillator (AED).

Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anybody – at any time, without warning.

Having a machine in Ludlow could mean the difference between life and death for somebody.

Every minute of delay in restarting a patient’s heart can decrease their chance of survival by 10 per cent.

We’re backing the scheme, which is backed by Ludlow Town Counci, working in conjunction with Ludlow Assembly Rooms to enable the defibrillator to be installed on an external wall of the building subject to planning consent from Shropshire Council.

At the same time, the council has launched an initiative with West Midland Ambulance Service to train volunteers to use this simple portable machine which gives the heart an electric shock to restart it in cases of cardiac arrest.

Volunteers will also be trained how to carry out CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation).

Training will take place on Sunday, December 9, from 10am to 4pm at the Beacon Rooms, Ludlow Castle.

AED trainers are coming from West Midlands Ambulance Service community response department and volunteers are advised that no previous medical training is necessary.

To be able to register, all trainees will be subject to an advance Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, which is free of charge. Forms will be made available on the day.

Places on the course must be booked in advance to ensure there are a sufficient number of AED trainers on hand. Call Graeme Perks on 01584 878 202 or Priscilla Toop on 01584 875 064, for more information.