ANNAN’S fifth defibrillator has been installed outside The Commercial Inn.
It was purchased entirely by two local residents, after a woman collapsed last summer outside the pub and someone had to run to the Queensberry Hotel to reach the nearest life saving machine.
Nanna Elder and Richard Morris were worried by this event and began to think about how this could be avoided in the future, and then decided that they wanted to help the community and pay for a defibrillator to be installed closer to their local pub.
Nanna said: “There are lots of older people in this area so we thought it was important to have one close by.
“When the woman collapsed last summer, someone had to run all the way to Queensberry and that might not always be possible.”
The Commercial Inn are hoping to organise an open day where locals can come down, learn what to do in an emergency and feel less nervous around the defibrillator.
Chairman of Annan Defibrillator Fund and pub landlord John Steel said: “Over the last six months the defibrillators in Annan have been deployed 16 times.
“They haven’t had to be used every time as the ambulances have arrived quickly enough but I don’t think people realise how often they get taken out.”
The locations of the five defibrillators in Annan are:
– Atwals
– The Station House
– The Queensberry Hotel
– Spar
– The Commercial Inn
In an emergency if any of these premises are open you can go inside and they will open the box for you.
If not, call 999 and if there are no ambulances nearby they will give you a code to open the box and will stay on the line and talk you through what to do.
