The AED Project was started in 2014 with the aim to provide 3 AED’s for Buckingham town itself and to recruit 3 CFR’s (Community First Responders). Geoff Shaw was the instigator and the driver for this charity in the early days and encouraged as many people as possible to be involved. We are now a group of Buckingham people including ; two Community First responders, a retired nurse, Health and Safety officer, financial administrator.  We all share an interest in helping people gain the skills and confidence which may potentially save someone’s life in an emergency situation.
We provide public awareness sessions that demonstrates Basic Life support (CPR) and Defibrillator awareness. The funds raised at our organised fundraising events and kind donations to the charity enable us to purchase and install Public Access Defibrillators known as AED’s (Automated External Defibrillator) for our community.
We are proud to say that the charity has managed to raise these figures to over eighteen 24 hour public accessible defibrillators and more CFR’s. With the sad passing of Geoff in 2019, the committee has continued to work with the community in raising funds to maintain the current AEDs and plan for potential placement of further AEDs if required.

According to British Heart Foundation (BHF) only 7-8% of people in whom resuscitation is attempted survive to hospital discharge. This can be significantly increased by the early use of CPR and Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) either by members of the public or the emergency services.
The ‘Chain of Survival’ early bystander recognition, early call for help and CPR, and early defibrillation dramatically increases the chances of survival. With CPR and Defibrillation in under 5 minutes a victim’s chance of survival increases to 50-70%
(include the ‘Chain of Survival’ Image)

The 24 hour public access AED’s in Buckingham are located in various locations, including Buckingham Community centre, Jardines the Chemist on the high street, The Woolpack on Well street.  I am sure as public awareness has risen more people can identify the locations of their nearest Defib.

A crucial aspect of our aims was to find ways to tell people what we are doing. We continue to hold awareness meetings at local community village halls, this has proved quite successful, and we deliver these in various settings, including in Bourton Park. The Restart a Heart campaign supported by the Resuscitation Council UK is an annual awareness campaign that we also support, with the support of our local Fire service and Tesco. We work with other local charities e.g. Rotary, Masons, and of course South Central Ambulance service not only to raise funds but to increase awareness of AED placement, recognise when it may be needed and how easy they are to use.
Our Social media is still in its infancy and we are beginning to use this to keep our local community informed with our activities, with some success.