St Albans defibrillators: mayor's appeal funds three more

Three defibrillators have been handed over to the volunteers who reach cardiac arrests in St Albans before an ambulance can. They were bought with £4,760 raised by Councillor Teresa Heritage during her year as Mayor of St Albans City and District, which ended in May.

The money also paid for two training manikins for simulating CPR, which the council says will be used at outreach events around the district. Cllr Heritage and Councillor Sue Griffiths, the former Deputy Mayor, handed the equipment to local team leaders from Community First Responders at the Civic Centre.

Cllr Heritage also gave a further £565 from the appeal to Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Community First Responders are volunteers trained by the East of England Ambulance Service. They are dispatched by the ambulance service to 999 calls in their own area, and their job is to start treatment in the first minutes, before a crew arrives.

The appeal did not end with the handover

What the council’s announcement does not say is that the responders are still short.

St Albans Community First Responders are running their own appeal to replace five ageing defibrillators, at £1,320 each, a target of £6,600. As of 31 August their fundraising page showed £1,951.26 given by 33 supporters, plus £321.70 in Gift Aid. That leaves roughly £4,650 of the online target still to raise.

The group’s own explanation of why it matters is on the page: early defibrillation is what changes the odds, and it says that when a defibrillator is used in the first three to five minutes the chance of survival rises to between 50 and 70 per cent.

What it means for you

Check that the defibrillator nearest you is registered. Public-access defibrillators across the UK are listed on The Circuit, which describes itself as the national defibrillator network and says it “provides the NHS ambulance services with vital information about defibrillators across the UK” so that they can be reached quickly after a cardiac arrest. It is run by the British Heart Foundation with NHS England, the Resuscitation Council UK, St John Ambulance, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives and Save a Life Cymru. A defibrillator on a wall that nobody has registered is one the ambulance service cannot point a caller towards.

Speed is the whole point of a responder scheme. Community First Responders are sent to 999 calls in their own neighbourhood precisely because they are usually closer than the nearest ambulance, and the equipment they carry has to work when they get there. That is what the replacement appeal is for.

If you want to support it, the responders’ page is St Albans Community First Responders on JustGiving. The Mayor’s charity appeal is a separate fund and has now closed.

Sources

• Former Mayor’s charity appeal funds three life-saving defibrillators, St Albans City and District Council, 27 August 2026, for the £4,760 total, the three defibrillators, the two manikins, the handover and the £565 given to Pancreatic Cancer UK.
• St Albans Community First Responders, JustGiving, checked 31 August 2026, for the £6,600 target, the £1,320 unit cost, the £1,951.26 raised from 33 supporters, the £321.70 in Gift Aid and the group’s description of its own role and of early defibrillation.
• The Circuit, the national defibrillator network, for what the network is, who runs it and what it provides to the NHS ambulance services.

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