Council support for charity’s community defibrillator roll-out

Hartlepool Borough Council is providing £10,000 to fund the installation of a further 12 defibrillators by the DS43 Community Defibrillators group, set up by Pam and Bill Shurmer -along with David Cairns - in memory of their 43-year-old son Danny who suffered a cardiac arrest in 2021.

These are in addition to the 35 already installed by the group in a variety of locations, including at a number of shops and pubs.

The funding will enable the group to install defibrillators in areas where there are no such commercial premises, with power being provided from adjacent lamp posts. The Council is also covering the cost of the electricity.

The identified locations are Parklands Way, Woodstock Way, Station Lane, Barford Close, Kingsley Avenue, top end of King Oswy Drive, King Oswy Drive (at the junction with West View Road); Bluebell Way, Jesmond Road, Elwick Road/Cairnston Road, Wynyard Road/Owton Manor Lane and the top of Marlowe Road.

(Left-right): Bill Shurmer, Councillor Shane Moore and Pam Shurmer beside an existing community defibrillator in Merlin Way.

Councillor Shane Moore, Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council and Chair of the Finance and Policy Committee, said: “Danny’s death was an absolute tragedy, and I want to pay tribute to how Pam and Bill – with the outstanding support of the group’s other trustees – have devoted themselves in very difficult circumstances to thinking of others and creating a network of life-saving community defibrillators.

“What they have achieved to date is amazing, and the Council is pleased to be able to help them further extend their network.”

Pam, Chair of the group, said: “We are delighted to be working in collaboration with the Council, and the funding it is providing will take us closer to our target of everyone living in Hartlepool being within 350 metres where possible of a community-accessible defibrillator.

“The Council’s support is important because it will enable us install defibrillators in areas where we would not otherwise have been able to.”

In addition to the creation of the defibrillator network, the group is also passionate about providing defibrillator awareness to people, including how to administer CPR, through trustees David and Kelly Cairns. David is a Community First Responder with the North East Ambulance Service and Kelly works for the Fire Service.

Anyone wishing to support the work of DS43 Community Defibrillators can make a donation through its NatWest Bank account – sort code 54-21-54, account number 35304642.