Village Life
saving life in the community
Trustees’ Annual Report September 2021
Village Life was set up in 2015 as a charitable community project providing quick public access to defibrillators in the principal villages in the Llangattock Vibon Avel ward of rural Monmouthshire. The main reason was the recognition that it takes time, even in the best of circumstances, for the emergency services to reach victims of cardiac arrest in more remote locations such as these. Fortunately incidents of this nature are infrequent, but the consequences of delay can be devastating and life threatening. Since the project began five defibrillators have been installed in Cross Ash, Skenfrith, Newcastle, Maypole & Rockfield. They are maintained with regular checks by local volunteers and details are updated on ‘The Circuit’, the national database of defibrillators run for the emergency services by the British Heart Foundation. A program of meetings, to teach members of the public how to perform CPR and if necessary use a defibrillator, has been carried out with around 250 people trained or re-trained so far. Unfortunately this program, based on small group in person hands on training sessions, has been halted by the Covid pandemic. At the time of writing case numbers remain sufficiently high to make restarting training problematic, but the intention is to resume as soon as safely possible.
There has been a trickle of incidents. Defibrillators have been taken out on three occasions as a precautionary measure, (only on one one occasion actually being put to use although no shock was then required, until later on when the patient who had had a heart attack went into cardiac arrest on the way to hospital). One of the things discovered in recent incidents involving emergency services is that locating the place or victim can be challenging, where quite often there is also no mobile signal for verification. As a result the project has advocated the use of what3words codes by members of the public when calling 999, as they are much more specific than postcodes. This message has been reiterated in training sessions & local information campaigns. In one village, Maypole & St Maughans, a group of volunteers has been set up who can be summoned by the emergency services or by other villagers using a Village Emergency Telephone System to help fetch the defibrillator and take it to the incident for use before the paramedics are able to get there. This volunteers’ group continues & undergoes annual refresher sessions on CPR & use of the AED but members are not themselves however full first aiders.
Covid has not only curtailed training sessions but also other activities such as fundraising events or face-toface trustees’ meetings. These last have been held instead via Zoom on-line on three occasions, including the AGM last October. But the hardy trustees did meet in person in a well ventilated & rather chilly barn this June. At the present moment the third wave of Covid is in full swing with expectations of a further surge in cases now that pupils have returned to schools & colleges. The latest Office of National Statistics survey report suggests 1 in 65 people in Wales are currently infected (10[th] September). Although full vaccination usually protects individuals against serious illness it only partially reduces rates of infection and transmission to others who may be vulnerable. Therefore prospects for a face-to-face AGM this Autumn remain circumspect, as does the idea of restarting training sessions.
The separate treasurer’s report shows that the charity’s financial position remains positive with reserves in the bank, despite reduced income from fundraising this year. There is enough in reserve to meet anticipated running expenses, the highest of which is the cost of insurance, for the next 3 or 4 years before the situation becomes more critical. The project has been undertaking replacements of pads and batteries, as some have already been in situ for their expected five-year lifespan and did replace the cracked external cabinet in Skenfrith this year. Electrical safety checks & remedial earthing works were also carried out on the three telephone box sites. But no other major capital replacements are expected or being planned.
The Village Life Community Project is registered with the Charity Commission: number 1169515
Village Life
saving life in the community
When the defibrillators reach the end of their operational lives in another five to ten years this will however become a significant issue for each community involved, whether and how to finance replacing their defibrillator. The project may not be able to attract sufficient funding grants to do this across the board as was done at the outset.
Since inception the project has maintained a database of contact details of people who have either supported the project, attended meetings or been to training events, which has required some effort to meet GDPR requirements. For some time it has been increasingly evident that the response to emails advertising events or requesting funding support is very low. Furthermore, with a population turnover of around 10% annually it is more than likely that nearly half the contact details may be inaccurate. A feeling has been growing among the trustees that the project should perhaps abandon keeping the database as the information is no longer really needed, itself a requirement of GDPR. This is to be discussed further and probably confirmed at the AGM. In one village, Maypole & St Maughans, where the local database has been used to run a covid support newsletter/magazine, alternative arrangements will need to be made for distribution, which needs to be agreed with recipients.
As regards training the project hopes to restart CPR and AED refresher sessions again but only when covid prevalence figures have fallen sufficiently to make this a safe prospect. In the meantime Tom, as chief trainer, has had his approval as a Welsh Ambulance CPR/AED trainer renewed by Gerard Rothwell, PADS manager at Welsh Ambulance. Gerard also approved the VL First Aid Guide that has been produced, based on NHS guidelines, which has so far only been issued on a fairly limited basis. The intention is to make more use of it at least in future training sessions. The resuscitation guidelines, on which VL training has been based, are those produced by the UK Resuscitation Council in 2015. A revision of these is expected soon, with the likelihood being that the technique of rescue breaths will no longer be recommended for use by members of the public, other than for younger children. Covid has in fact already resulted in rescue breaths no longer being recommended in adult CPR scenarios.
This report has been produced as part of the annual return to the Charity Commission and will form the basis of the chairman’s report at the AGM in November 2021.
The Village Life Community Project is registered with the Charity Commission: number 1169515
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Forth• wiod 01rn7r2020 Section A Receipts and payments ilnr•¥triGied fund¥ funds fvnd• T¢)tal fund L1 year A1 R•c•lpts Donabofis MRC GfftAid R•M 1,015 1.015 210 Sub total (Gross Incl) for AR) A2 A¥set and Inve•IRnt •al••, labhl. Sub total 1,302 InsutaDce 470 120 IX AED Miononce Sub total A4 Ass•t and inv•stm•rt ptsrchases. Is•• tsbh) 1 x Hgat Cabingt Sub tolal 335 1.322 1J22 Net of recelpts/(payments) . A5 Trnnsfern lJ¢t¢n fund$ A6 Cash fund¥ last year end Cash lunds this ye end 1,71 4J27 4.327 4J07 2.617 4J2 CCXX R18txwrrt81
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Endowmont funds n•are¥t£ funds funds r•8t£ Total c•sh funds 4.307 Unrnstrictad EndoTwm•nt funds ID nar¢¥l£ furKI• ID nreStE Details trj I•$t£ Furnl trj thl¢h Currerbt va8 Details Fund to Current¥ae Details B4 Assets retalned for the chaiW8 use Furwjknwh Amwntdu• Delalls BS Llabllftl SvJthJ byono or Iwo truston beh8M olall trtrust••5 Signatwe Prffrt Namè Dato of L Groen T Pitt>Tu(er CCXX R2 ac<ounl8 (SSI OSM021