David Nelson Memorial Fund installs 19th Weardale defibrillator

The David Nelson Memorial Fund was established three years ago by Mr Nelson’s family and friends after the 61-year-old builder suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at his home in Hill End, Weardale in January 2015 and had to wait 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

His family and friends wanted to do something to provide Weardale with a safety net to help prevent another tragedy so they began to fundraise to buy community access defibrillators for the dale and, driven by Mr Nelson’s daughter Gillian Hutchinson and daughter-in-law Allison Nelson, the fundraising activities took off with support and donations from people far and wide.

After three years the total amount raised is £43,618 and to date 19 defibrillators have been installed.

Mrs Hutchinson and Mrs Nelson said the money raised was “unbelievably huge”.

A statement from Mrs Hutchinson and Mrs Nelson said: “This is an unbelievably huge achievement in just three years, but without the help and continued support of the kind people of Weardale and beyond, this could not have been achievable.

“David’s family are eternally grateful for the immense support that this very worthy cause has generated.”

Defibrillators are in the following locations: Hill End, Frosterley, Wolsingham, Stanhope, Cowshill, Westgate, St. John’s Chapel, Ireshopeburn, Eastgate, Rookhope, Wearhead and Daddry Shield, Tunstall, and Crawleyside.

This is in addition to the four primary schools that have accepted the offer of funding to enable them to purchase defibrillators through the NHS supply chain.

The Fund has also worked alongside the North East Ambulance Service to provide free defibrillator awareness sessions throughout Weardale and to date aprox 400 people have attended these sessions aged 6 to 80.

Any member of the public can access a defibrillator by calling 999 (or 112) and they will be given an access code.

Several machines have been called out to patients in the dale suffering chest pains and in one instance one of the defibrillators was successfully used to help save someone suffering from a cardiac arrest.

For more information contact Mrs Hutchinson 07779050321 or Mrs Nelson on 07854736954.