One woman's drive for defibrillators in Hattersley

Determined fundraiser Stacey Booth is on a drive to secure the instillation of more lifesaving defibrillators across Hattersley.

Two have been purchased and are now publicly located out in the community to save lives, with a third fundraiser underway to provide one of the vital devices at The Hattersley Projects, off Union Street.

Stacey explained that after the pandemic, with the coronavirus dominating the majority of headlines and our lives, she wanted to find a silver lining within it all.

Many people were confined to their homes and potentially feeling very isolated from their communities, which prompted Stacey to come up with the idea of a fundraiser to bring residents together again plus raise vital funds at the same time.

Stacey said: “It was a slow start but it’s such a huge achievement now that we have two defibrillators out and ready. The summer months were fantastic with the community coming back together, it’s been lovely seeing how much all our hard work has finally paid off.

“I moved here four years ago and I’ve rang ambulances for my daughter and been told that there’s no one available to come out to us, so they suggest we make our own way in or get a taxi.

“I just thought, if somebody needed a defibrillator we should have one on our doorstep if the ambulance isn’t quick enough or as accessible as we’d like.

“We’re quite out of the way here and we’re a way from Tameside Hospital, it’s also usually really busy with traffic getting up through Glossop so it could be a real nightmare if someone was in a life or death situation.

“People don’t realise that they could be the one needing that lifesaving help. If everyone on the estate just donated £1 or 50p to our Just Giving then we’d have defibrillators everywhere to help us all. You don’t know when you’re going to need these.

“My brother has one in his pub and is constantly being called by emergency services and family members come to collect it to use if the ambulance can’t get there in time. I was really surprised how much it was relied on.”

A cardiac arrest can affect anyone of any age at any time. With around 30,000 people each year suffering from one outside of a hospital environment, it is imperative that bystanders know how to respond and have the resources to do so.

Having a public access defibrillator available in an emergency can be life saving.

To generate funds, Stacey has also organised numerous raffles and she wraps roses individually to display on the bar to sell at a variety of her brother’s pubs around Glossop.

If you would like to make a donation towards the purchase of the next defibrillator you can search for https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stacey-booth with the fundraiser having to date raised more than £460 of a £750 target.