PORTHMADOG Town Council has paid for two defibrillators to be installed in the town.

One has been placed on the wall of Meithrinfa Hen Ysgol on Chapel Street and the other on the wall of the town’s Lidl store.

A spokesperson for the town council said: “The town council has paid for two new defibrillators for the local community.

“They were bought from Welsh Hearts Charity who had a campaign last year to increase the number of defibrillators across Wales.

“There are several around Porthmadog already but it was felt there was a need for one in the area around Lidl as there had been a medical emergency in the area last year where, sadly, someone passed away and the nearest defibrillator was in the Porthmadog Tesco store.”

Donna Ojemeyi is the manager of the nursery.

He said: “Mr Stuart Nashir-Hallard approached me in October 2020 expressing his feelings and how important it is to have more defibrillators in the Porthmadog area.

“As we are in the centre of town I thought it would be an excellent idea to have one fitted on the nursery premises.

“I can’t express how grateful we are to the town council for funding this amazing piece of life saving equipment.”

Cllr Nashir-Hallard approached Donna about a defibrillator after the issues was brought up by the town council.

He said: “I know the importance of defibrillators and how they can save lives, especially and rural areas like ours where hospitals are quite a distance away and ambulances cover a huge geographical area.

“For every minute it takes for a defibrillator to reach someone and deliver a shock their chances os survival reduce by up to 10 per cent.

“It’s estimated that only three per cent of cardiac arrests happen within the recommended retrieval distance of a defibrillator.”

He added: “Hopefully by installing more defibrillators within our community we have increased the likelihood of survival for anyone unfortunate enough to suffer a cardiac arrest.

“I would encourage all residents who fall within our town council areas to find out where their nearest defibrillator is located as it may just one day save a life.

“If they feel there is an area that is not suitably covered I would encourage them to write to our clerk.”