People living in and around Strone are being invited to attend a training session next week that could save lives.

Strone Primary School has received a defibrillator thanks to funding from the Scottish Government which has enabled the Scottish Ambulance Service to purchase and deploy defibrillators across the country.

The school initially applied to the scheme in response to the needs of one of their pupils who has a serious heart complaint. The school regularly runs HeartStart training for all staff and pupils, but felt that a defibrillator could be vital for the whole Strone community. The defibrillator will be sited at the school and available for the whole community.

Welcoming the news, Argyll and Bute Council’s Policy Lead for Education, Councillor Rory Colville said, “This is very positive news and something which I’m sure the whole community is very grateful for. By putting this life saving equipment in the hands of local communities, and giving them the appropriate training, vital care can be delivered in the minutes before the ambulance service arrives. I am delighted that Strone Primary has benefited and congratulate them on this local initiative."

Elaine Garman, Public Health Specialist from NHS Highland agreed, “This is an excellent example of a local area taking responsibility for an important public health issue. Across Argyll and Bute many of our communities are quite remote and it can take emergency services some time to arrive. Local people trained to use the defibrillator in Strone means that this community is well prepared to provide an early response to someone experiencing a cardiac arrest.”

A defibrillator is a life-saving machine that gives the heart an electric shock in some cases of cardiac arrest. This is called defibrillation and can save lives.

The Scottish Ambulance Service will deliver a training session on the new defibrillator at Strone Primary School on Tuesday 22nd September at 7pm. The training is open to everyone.