Help us put defibrillators at our Nurseries!

Heath House, Wentwood House and Oaklea House Day Nursery are part of a family run chain of Day Nurseries located in Fleet, Hook and Bordon in Hampshire. We have been open since 2009 and were proud to remain open for key worker parents during the COVID-19 Pandemic. We also take pride in creating links with our local community.

All of our nurseries are located in convenient and central locations with accessibility in mind for busy parents and commuting staff members. Heath House and Wentwood House are not only located directly across the road from eachother, but the nurseries are also located in between Fleet Station, Fleet High street and within a short radius of multiple care homes and a small school. Oaklea House is just a short walk from the village of Hook and is close enough to the local infant school that we are able to walk our children there for transition days and Christmas plays.

As part of our required training, all qualified staff members take part in Paediatric First Aid training every 3 years. This training includes the use of a defibrillator for adults and children, and during each training session staff marvel at just how vital and mandatory this training and awareness should be for all- not just early years or care staff.

To put it into perspective: There are over 30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year. If an adult or a child goes into cardiac arrest, without a defibrillator, there is only a 7% chance of survival. If a defibrillator is on the patient within the first 3-5 minutes, the chances of survival is over 70%. (information courtesy of: BHF, London Hearts, 2021).

Every year, 270 children die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (Defibshop, 2020).

To save costs and due to the ‘rareness’ of it, most Public Access Defibrillators do not have child pads or settings. Adult and child dosages of energy required differ hugely (Trainaid, 2018).

Following our most recent training, we decided to look more seriously into the accessibility of defibrillators in relation to our nurseries.

We found that our setting in Bordon is within 10 metres of a Doctors surgery with a defibrillator which is excellent. Oaklea House in Hook is within a 5 minute walk from the village parade where a defibrillator is located, however in the event of an emergency, we realised that this amount of distance would do little to provide a successful outcome if a child or staff member was in cardiac arrest at the setting. Our two settings in Fleet- with potential care for up to 155 children, 50 staff and numerous parents on a single day, was not within a suitable time frame or distance at all to be able to confidently allow someone a chance of survival.

Cardiac arrest can happen anywhere, at anytime and to any one of any age.

With your help, we would like to fundraise to be able to install our own adult and child suitable defibrillator on an external wall at Heath House and Oaklea House. This would be visible for those passing and would support the community by enabling speedy access in an emergency for Heath House staff, parents and children and those living within distance to reach it in time. This includes the numerous care homes in the surrounding perimeter and new flats. For Oaklea House, the same would be applicable and would be able to also serve those in houses nearby, the convent and Church.

After much research and price comparison, the equipment and funds required to make this a possibility are:

• Defibrillator with outside heated and lockable cabinet (this keeps the defibrillator at optimum temperature during the colder months as the defibrillator has it's own internal battery which can be affected by exposure to cold weather- London Hearts, 2021)- 2 x £1255 – London Hearts

• £100-£150 installation costs- As advised by London Hearts

• £150-200 electrician cost to supply power to the unit- As advised by London Hearts

The above prices already include a small grant that we have been able to secure from London Hearts.

Any additional funds raised we would love to use towards hosting a training session for those in the surrounding areas. Anything over and above this could be used towards saving for the maintenance costs including: battery replacement after 5 years, new pads when required and anything else.

Our total goal is therefore roughly £3200. Being a small chain, we are potentially in a position to reach out to 700 individual parents- If every single one donated £5, we’d reach our goal immediately. A small cost to potentially save a life.

So please help us fundraise for this excellent cause, for you never know who is going to need it or when.

Thank you!