Oldham charity saving lives one defibrillator at a time

Scott Woodhead owns Sports Physio UK, along with Dave Sedgewick, and they had worked together with his previous business partners, Rick and Lucy Livesey, to help place defibrillators around Shaw and Crompton since 2014.

They did this in memory of Lucy Livesey's twin brother Ashley, who died after competing in a school cross-country event when he was just 15 years old.

Scott then began to work towards his goal of getting 'everybody within 500m of a defibrillator' in his free time and installing them himself around the area.

The 500m is the furthest distance a person in need must be for North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) to be able to activate the equipment. 

Scott said: "At the end of the day, what's a bit of my time, it doesn't cost me much to do the installations.

"But what's my time against putting lifesaving equipment out into our community, that one day will give that chance of life to somebody?"

More and more defibrillators have now been installed, thanks to the efforts of Scott and his company.The charity was set up last year (Image: Defibrillators Save Lives)

However, last year, Scott was contacted by Pat Highley, from Royton, who said she wanted to start securing defibrillators in her area, as Scott had.

The two teamed up and managed to get another three defibrillators in Royton, which Pat maintains regularly. 

Now, there are over 25 of the life-saving machines installed in the Shaw and Crompton and Royton areas, many of which have been fundraised for by the charity Scott and Pat set up, Defibrillators Save Lives.

Scott also maintains the defibs in Shaw and Crompton, and takes his 10-year-old son, Charlie with him.

Charlie Woodhead, 10-years-old, also helps his dad Scott by teaching how to give CPR (Image: Defibrillators Save Lives)

Together, the father and son are 'guardians' of the defibs and clean, check and make sure they are in service and logged within the circuit which allows NWAS to view and activate the equipment when it is needed.

Pat is also the guardian of a number of defibrillators in Royton and carries out her duties on those.

Scott said: "It's an insurance policy- having a defib on the side of a building or nearby.

"It's like, we all buy car insurance, but hope it's never used, and this is exactly the same.

"We'll fundraise, we'll get these pieces of kit out onto these buildings and we do hope that they're never used- but they are."

One defibrillator located in Royton was, said Scott, activated and saved the life of a 15-year-old, within 10 days of it being installed.

Defibrillators Save Lives also often instruct people at Shaw Market on how to perform CPR, use the cabinets the defibrillators are kept in and the defibs themselves. 

Charlie is also 'amazing' at teaching fellow children these things, Scott said.

The charity is also holding a CPR marathon in celebration of Scott's company, Sport Physio UK, turning 12 years old.

A group of the Heart Heroes with Scott at an awareness stall (Image: Defibrillators Save Lives)

The event will be held on September 7 at the Royal British Legion hall in Shaw and will see participants tag in and out of performing 12-minute rounds of CPR over a total of 26.2 hours, the same amount of miles as in a marathon.

However, they are currently searching for people to take part in the challenge and those interested can email defibs@sportsphysiouk.co.uk

Pat and Scott's charity is completely non-profit, with every penny of their funds going toward the purchase, installation and upkeep of the defibrillators. 

They also inform and partner with local companies to educate about the kit and have a network of volunteers, or 'Heart Heroes' as they call them, helping with the upkeep of the defibrillators.