Basildon: School Defibrillators Campaign

14 February 2014, 00:00 | Updated: 14 February 2014, 05:56

A campaign has started to get life-saving heart equipment installed in schools in Basildon.

The Eastgate Centre wants defibrillators put in the borough's 10 secondary and 40 primary schools stating "12 young people die every week from cardiac arrest in the UK, and of these each year some 270 will die at school, often either during or following physical exercise." 

The first school to benefit will be Woodlands Secondary. In 2012, 12 year-old Leonie Nice suffered a cardiac arrest there and died. 

The centre is aiming to raise £60,000 to provide schools with the equipment and the training necessary for staff to use them. 

Eastgate centre manager Ian Clark said: "Eastgate has been supporting the placement of defibrillators in Basildon town square for some years as part of our community programme. This project will now also get our total commitment going forward. 

"We are delighted to have become a partner of Woodlands, which is bang on our doorstep, to address a genuine need, and we jointly aim to allocate as many defibrillators as possible to Basildon schools within the shortest possible time." 

Woodlands deputy head Jayne Dear said: "This project is a wonderful initiative that will unite Basildon as a town and a community behind a very worthwhile cause. 

"Woodlands School is acutely aware that having such equipment and training here is essential for our 1,500 or so pupils and our 200 plus staff. 

"We are all behind this project which will inspire confidence that, in the unlikely event of a cardiac arrest at the school, there are defibrillators and trained operators available to help save lives."