'Immensely important' defibrillators installed in city

Ten public defibrillators have been installed around a city after fundraising efforts from a rotary club.

When Bernard Dunkley became the president of The Rotary Club of Kingsholm, Gloucestershire, he made it his mission to increase the number of life-saving kits around Gloucester.

It comes after data revealed that the city had the lowest number of defibrillators in the country.

Mr Dunkley said 24/7, publicly accessible defibrillators are "immensely important".

The rotary club has always focused on local causes, and is "dedicated" to serving the community by raising funds and supporting local charities and events.

When he was appointed as president and given the opportunity to choose which charities to support in 2023, Mr Dunkley decided to launch a campaign to install public defibrillators.

He was inspired to embark on the task after the death of Sam Polledri, who suffered a cardiac arrest in Bristol at the age of 24.

He was the brother of former Gloucester rugby player, Jake Polledri.

Mr Dunkley said the campaign "could not have got off the ground" without the support and fundraising efforts of the rotary club.

A number of lives have already been saved with the defibrillators, Mr Dunkley said.

After a cyclist collapsed in Kings Square, a nurse in the area used the defibrillator located near Wetherspoons.

It saved his life and after he recovered, he "emotionally" expressed his thanks to the club.

“In an ideal world it would be wonderful for everybody to be within three minutes of a defibrillator," Mr Dunkley said.

"That is not the case, but at least in Gloucester where we’ve decorated the city with a number of them, the citizens and visitors can feel relatively safe that there’s one to hand."

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