THE VILLAGE PEOPLE ARE IN SAFE HANDS

A hotel in the Black Country is looking after their guests and staff better than ever before thanks to West Midlands Ambulance Service. With 125 bedrooms, 4,500 leisure club members, meeting rooms, a restaurant, a coffee shop and around 200 staff, De Vere Village Hotel on Castlegate Park in Dudley can welcome around 2,000 people through their doors each day.

With such a busy venue, West Midlands Ambulance Service recently provided the hotel with an automated external defibrillator (a device used to restart someone’s heart when they’ve suffered a cardiac arrest). A total of nine staff were given training in basic life support and how to use their new piece of life saving kit during a hands on training session delivered by a local paramedic last month.

Pictured (left to right): Dawn Fox (paramedic), Mark Mills (Leisure Centre Operations Manager), Lee Tempest (Pub Manager), Luke Hughes (Membership Advisor), Warren Thompson (Assistant Pub Manager), Steve Dear (Restaurant Manager), Audrey Williams(Housekeeping Team Leader), Lynda Parkins (Meeting and Events Manager), Andy Parkes  (Leisure Club Manager), Emma Wilkins (Black Country Community Response Manager), De Vere Village’s ‘The Purple Man’

Andy Parkes, Leisure Club Manager, said: “You can’t go wrong with the training, its’ really easy to follow. There was no fear factor from anyone on the training as the defibrillator is simple to use and operate.By having a defibrillator and people trained in first aid means that our guests and staff are in a safe environment. We’re really grateful to West Midlands Ambulance Service for providing us with this valuable training and life saving equipment.”                                         

Dawn Fox, a Paramedic from Tettenhall, trained the group on Tuesday 28th February and said: “It was great working with the staff at The Village as they were really enthusiastic learning new skills and getting to grips with the defibrillator. Its common sense for such a busy leisure facility to have a defibrillator and people trained in first aid as, with so many people using the hotel, it’s inevitable that someone will need vital first aid. They’re a very proactive team who are keen on looking after their visitors and staff alike. By increasing the amount of defibrillators in the public domain and by increasing appropriately trained personnel in the use of a defibrillator and basic life support, the percentages of survival from a cardiac arrest can only increase.”