Seven portable defibrillators will now be in almost continuous circulation in the county as they travel with staff and volunteers from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA). 

The charity has purchased the automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for use in charity vehicles at hundreds of events every year, meaning every member of staff is now a potential life-saver. 

Julian Pearce, a 61-year-old physiotherapy lecturer, knows the importance of defibrillators in the community after having a cardiac arrest while at work at the University of Southampton.

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His colleagues, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics, found him slumped at his desk and began CPR and defibrillation immediately.

He said: "People say how fortunate they are to be in the right place at the right time, but to be surrounded by the people I was surrounded by – I was so unbelievably fortunate. They knew how to do CPR and where the defibrillator was.”

Due to the severity of Julian’s condition, the HIOWAA crew were dispatched.

He added: "I wasn't aware of what they could do. I just presumed they would resuscitate and shock me, get me breathing and bundle me into an ambulance to go to hospital. But the fact they intubated and ventilated me in the foyer of my workplace is frankly unbelievable."

There are approximately 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year. For every minute that someone is in cardiac arrest without receiving CPR or defibrillation, their chance of survival decreases by ten per cent. 

The AEDs, portable electronic devices which automatically diagnose cardiac arrests and treat them through an electric current to the heart, have been designed to be used by people with no training.

However, all charity staff have been trained in basic life support by the service's paramedics and doctors, with all 150 volunteers set for AED training before the end of 2025.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance CEO, Richard Corbett, added: "We hope these defibrillators are never needed. But, if an emergency does happen, we are proud and pleased to know that members of our charity team will have the means to respond and potentially save a life."

It's part of the charity's CPR Skills for Life campaign.

HIOWAA is aiming to raise £3.6 million to relocate its airbase to a site close to Southampton Airport in its biggest ever fundraising appeal.