In a joint venture between North Wales Crusaders Wheelchair Rugby League and Disability Sports Association and Wales Rugby League, Deeside Leisure Centre have received a brand new automated external defibrillator (AED).

Rugby League World Cup 2021, working alongside AEDdonate, were able to give their AEDs to communities following the tournament, that was eventually held in November last year, postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There were 35 AEDs available, and these all needed to be installed in a Community Publicly Accessible Defibrillator Cabinet. In a joint bid between Wales Rugby League and the Crusaders, Deeside Leisure Centre have been a recipient for one of these defibrillators.

Wales’ Wheelchair Development Officer and Crusaders Chairman, Stephen Jones said: “Deeside have been the home of the Crusaders since our inception in 2013 and we can’t think of any better way to give back for what they’ve done for us.

“A centre in the heart of the community, Deeside is known to everyone in that area and though we hope it’ll never need to be used, by having the AED accessible for the community, we truly hope this can help and benefit the community.”

30,000 people die each year from out-of-hospital Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) with 620 of these are people under the age of 35 and 270 of these deaths happening to children within schools. If defibrillation takes place within the first three minutes of an SCA, the patient’s chances of survival increase by upwards of 80%.

Having the defibrillator installed means that it can be deployed by the local ambulance trust in a bid to give the patient the all-important shock to the heart prior to an ambulance arrival. The defibrillator is by no means a replacement to the ambulance service, it just allows patient treatment to commence immediately.