Funding from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has enabled North Aston's community to buy and install its first defibrillator.
Residents of the Oxfordshire village recognised the importance of ensuring they were equipped with the right tools to attend medical emergencies -should the need arise - and applied for a grant through SSEN's Resilient Communities Fund (RCF).
Having successfully secured funding of over £1,280, North Aston Parish has now installed the much needed defibrillator, with training sessions already underway to ensure residents in the community know exactly how it operates. Both residents and any visitors to the small village now have peace of mind that this invaluable piece of life-saving equipment will always be on hand if needed.
North Aston Parish has thanked SSEN for the funding, saying: "The grant has been amazing for us. In the short time since the defibrillator has been installed, more than 30 people have been trained in CPR and the use of the defibrillator, with additional session being arranged for the near future."
This is the fourth year of SSEN running the Resilient Communities Fund and during this time has provided £2.13m of funding to 325 projects. Set up in 2014 as a two-year pilot scheme, SSEN has pledged to extend the fund to 2023 using a proportion of the income it receives from the industry regulator Ofgem in relation to its stakeholder engagement performance.
Focused primarily on projects aimed at helping vulnerable or isolated people living in SSEN's network areas, applications are considered by an independent fund panel. New applicants will be invited to apply in early 2020.
A full report on the fund is available here - https://www.ssen.co.uk/RCF/ .