A fourth defibrillator has been installed in the centre of Town after Ravenscroft covered the cost of supplying the life-saving unit to its new office in New Street.

The investment services company, which employs more than 75 people in Guernsey, moved to New Street earlier this year. A defibrillator, which is constantly available to the public, has now been fitted to the outside of Ravenscroft’s office.

‘Hundreds of people live and work in New Street and the neighbouring roads and we know that every second counts if someone needs to access this life saving equipment. We have seen in the local media remarkable stories of islanders’ lives being saved by a defibrillator and as a company which is a significant supporter of the community, we wanted to be a part of the network of defibs that are now around Guernsey,’ said group chief operating officer Andrew Courtney.

‘Ravenscroft has covered the cost of the unit and the annual maintenance and we are grateful to our electrical contractors C8 for installing it free of charge. We are now arranging training for all our staff so they are confident in using it, although we hope that they will never be called upon.’

Mike Froome, community resuscitation development officer from the Cardiac Action Group, said it was fantastic that Ravenscroft had offered its office as a location and covered the costs of it being fitted.

‘As a charity, we rely entirely on donations and our remit to improve cardiac services across the Bailiwick is growing. In the event of a heart attack, prompt use of CPR and a defibrillator can improve chances of survival by 10% per minute and so those living and working near to Ravenscroft’s offices have the comfort of knowing that this equipment is on their doorstep,’ he said.

‘If other companies want to offer their offices as Ravenscroft has done then we would be delighted to speak to them.’