PUPILS and staff at Red Oaks Primary School are looking forward to a special assembly in two weeks’ time when they’ll receive the gift of life-saving equipment.
On June 23, eight-year-old Chester Garrett will be performing the official hand-over of a defibrillator donated to his school by his grandmother Janet Garrett.
Janet, who runs Janet’s Puppy Skool in Haydon Wick, heard about mums Kayleigh Headland and Sonia Dykes, featured in the Adver recently, who are campaigning to provide every school in Swindon with a defibrillator and the training to use it.
“These two ladies have children affected by heart conditions, and they’ve set up Swindon Heart Safe, an organisation to raise money to buy this life-saving kit,” said Janet.
“I just thought that every school should have one of these, because for the life of a child, teacher or visitor to be lost due to the absence of a piece of equipment is absolutely unthinkable. I’m a business owner in a position to donate, and so I looked for a school that doesn’t yet have one.”
A defibrillator is used to deliver an electric current to someone whose heart has either stopped or developed an irregular rhythm, to get the heart beating normally again.
Two of Janet’s grandchildren attend Peatmoor Community Primary, which already has a defibrillator, so she decided to make her donation to Red Oaks, where Chester is a pupil and where his younger sister will start school. Janet will be attending the ceremony when Chester presents the equipment.
Janet said: “It seems that only six of the schools in Swindon have these vital pieces of equipment, and I wanted to make sure that my grandchildrens’ schools did.
"There is a government scheme available to help schools buy them, which brings the price down to around £450, including the training, so we’re aiming to raise enough for four.”
• The Fun Dog Show will take place at Janet’s Puppy Skool, Haydon Wick Farmhouse, Pond Street, Haydon Wick. For further details please see the school’s Facebook page.
Anyone who would like to help buy a defibrillator for a school, can click here
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