Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) is excited to announce that Bristol City Council (BCC) has awarded us funding for 52 new defibrillators. Along with a further £17,000 raised by the Sam Polledri Foundation, GWAAC is looking to place 62 lifesaving public-access defibrillators in Bristol. The charity needs your help to find locations for the defibrillators!

There is a simple three-step process you can follow (outlined below) to check if you have a defibrillator near you and if not, to register your interest in getting one installed. It’s important to know that you can do something today that could save a life in the future.

Why you need a public-access defibrillator nearby

GWAAC saves lives across Bristol and beyond and its specialist crew are called to 500 cardiac arrest patients a year – a quarter of the charity’s total missions. Yet, despite the extraordinary skills of our crew, their speedy arrival to the scene, and the equipment they bring (equipment and skills that are usually found in a hospital emergency department) – they are the first to say that the precious minutes before they arrive are critical.

Bystander CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and defibrillation before an ambulance arrives can increase cardiac arrest survival rates from less than 10 percent to more than 70 percent. Every one-minute delay where no one does anything to help reduces someone’s survival chances by another 10 percent. To avoid needless deaths GWAAC’s goal is that anyone who suffers a cardiac arrest will receive immediate CPR and then defibrillation within three to five minutes – ideally even sooner.

Tragically, Sam Polledri, a fit and healthy 24-year-old, wasn’t one of the fortunate ones. On 26 February 2022 on a night out with friends, he suffered a cardiac arrest in Millennium Square. Despite being surrounded by five defibrillators, none were publicly accessible, and he didn’t survive.

GWAAC is asking the people of Bristol to follow a simple three-step process

Step 1:  Find YOUR nearest defibrillator!

• Enter your postcodes (where you work, rest and play) into Defib Finder. It will show the locations of your nearest 10 defibrillators
• Use the filter options to select 24/7, Public only, and tick the Available Now box
• Click on the top or closest defibrillator shown. It will give directions, distance and walking time. If it is further than a three to five-minute round trip, go to Step 2, below.

Step 2: Decide where you want a defibrillator

Remember, it needs to be within a three to five-minute round trip! Then check if it is in one of the locations listed below (BCC has provided funding for new defibrillators in these wards). If the location is not listed below, GWAAC’s Great Western Hearts programme can help you with other options for installing a defibrillator:

• Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston
• Clifton
• Clifton Down
• Hotwells and Harbourside
• Stoke Bishop
• Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze
• Eastville
• Frome Vale
• Hillfields
• Lockleaze
• Ashley
• Central Bristol
• Easton
• Lawrence Hill
• St George Central
• St George Troopers Hill
• St George West
• Bedminster
• Brislington East
• Brislington West
• Knowle
• Southville

Step 3: Compete the form at the bottom of this page.

It takes a team effort to help Bristol communities live safer lives

By helping GWAAC to locate 62 public access defibrillators you’ll be joining the team effort that is needed to make Bristol a safer place for those who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

GWAAC wants to thank BCC for its commitment to funding the defibrillators and the Sam Polledri Foundation for its unwavering support. The charity has also developed an innovative new mapping tool that will help identify hotspots for the placement of new defibrillators based on areas of deprivation where there is a lack of public-access defibrillators and where there are higher proportions of cardiac arrests occurring.

“GWAAC’s unique approach, combining data-driven placement, fully supported procurement and installation, with grass-roots guardianship and training initiatives makes a genuine difference and empowers Bristol communities to live safer lives. Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, BCC, and the Sam Polledri Foundation need your support to help us get more defibrillators out into the communities so that they can save lives”

Lisa Warrington, Defibrillator Coordinator at GWAAC

About the Sam Polledri Foundation

Winners of Supporter of the Year at the 2023 Air Ambulance UK Awards

Amidst the devastation of losing Sam in such a tragic way, Sam’s family, girlfriend Lisa Mazzotta, and friends chose to do something incredible for the city and beyond as a tribute to him.

Partnering with GWAAC, they set up the Sam Polledri Foundation, raising funds to install public access defibrillators, and teaching people to use them along with CPR. Their actions are already saving lives.

Sam’s mum, Louise Polledri, says: “If a defibrillator is inside a building but that building is closed it cannot be accessed in an emergency. And if a defibrillator is not registered this means that when a call is made to 999, the call handler cannot see that there is a defibrillator in the area. Defibrillators must be accessible to the public.

That’s why as well as the the installation of new public-access defibrillators, we’re hoping that the £17,000 funding that we have raised for this project will be used to help people who have existing defibrillators and want a cabinet fitted externally to make them accessible 24/7 with unrestricted access for the community. We’d like to encourage these people to come forward.”