Dosh4defibs raises money for defibrillators

Dosh4defibs was set up by Dannii Vincent after the sudden death of her 11-year-old old nephew, Bailey. Its aim: to put lifesaving defibrillators into the community and schools. Here, in a feature supported by Perkins Engines Company Limited, she tells the charity’s story

It was back in May 2014 while Bailey was out playing football with friends that he suddenly became unwell and collapsed. He died from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome. I couldn’t sit back and watch another family go through what we had been through.

The charity SADS UK were a huge support to the family and through them we started raising money. Initially it was just supporting SADS UK and raising money for them, then through their Big Shock campaign I realised that the money we were raising could be buying defibrillators for our local schools and community. This is where Dosh4defibs was born. Fundraising started with a football tournament at a local festival. This brought in the crowds and raised enough for a defibrillator. After that day it was infectious, I just couldn’t stop.

So, with the support of the schools we placed defibrillators in each of the primary schools in Stamford. Support and donations are always coming in from local people, businesses and community groups enabling us to keep ordering more and more. The schools’ defibrillators are all internal, meaning there is no access to these once the schools are shut, so I had to approach the council to get them in our town centre. This has been a long process but we are now finalising the last few details and there will be five appearing within the town centre and the local park within the next few months.

We also have some in the process of being placed at the moment; two at the local secondary school, one at a service station, one at a very busy industrial estate and one at the local cricket ground. We rely on support, donations and fundraising events from local people, businesses and the community but also making people aware of what we are doing and why it is so crucial. People don’t understand the importance of this equipment if they haven’t been through what we have; I was naive to it all until it happened to us. A sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any age at any time. CPR alone can give a 5% chance of survival after a SCA, early defibrillation can take that to over 50%.

East Midlands Ambulance Service are stretched to their limits, losing ambulance stations all over the region, their response times are not what they used to be and every second counts in a SCA. In fact, each minute of no defibrillation is a 10% reduction in survival – these are some scary statistics! Having this equipment in the community means there is a fighting chance for that person. It is the extra help they need before the paramedics arrive, the vital time between life and death.

We have grown as a charity in the short time we have been doing this – we are a lot more known, and a lot better supported as time goes on. We have been lucky that we now have some really great people on board who bring their expertise with them and make us even better. We have Darren Mitchell of MJD Training, educating the community on first aid, CPR and defibrillation. We have Rachel Williams our photographer who helped us with our recent 2016 calendar and any shots we need. And we have Jono Smith from Smart Electrical Services who donates his time to install our defibrillators. Our design and print team and Mark Buttress at MB Creative have been tireless and on call regularly for posters, leaflets and banners. I couldn’t do all this without them and the support of our local community.

Contact: 07871016333 www.facebook.com/Dosh4Defibs @dosh4defibs