Guardian Profile - John Atkins

PAD site guardians play a crucial role in the maintenance of the defibrillators located around the island. In this series we will be profiling a number of our guardians to highlight the valuable work they do here in the community.

John Atkins, Chief Ambulance Officer at St. John Ambulance and Rescue Guernsey maintains a PAD site in Torteval.

"Although I’ve been involved with the St John organisation in Guernsey for 35 years, I became a PAD site guardian as a result of becoming a Douzenier on the Torteval Douzaine. A fellow Douzenier had previously been the guardian but following a re-allocation of Douzenier responsibilities, I happily agreed to take on to the guardianship. As the rest of the Douzaine pointed out – who better to look after a defibrillator than a Paramedic! That was three years ago now.

I check the PAD once every two weeks – wipe the cabinet inside and out, check the AED itself (pads, battery etc), and then login to the CAG app to confirm the check is complete. Because the check is done fortnightly, the cabinet doesn’t have time to get that dirty so a check usually only takes me ten minutes from start to finish.

To the best of my knowledge the Torteval Parish Hall PAD site has never been accessed in an emergency. Being in a rural location, it is perhaps less likely to be accessed than one in the heart of St Peter Port; however, it is all the more important that it’s there as the ambulance response time to Torteval is inevitably longer than it is to town.

Early defibrillation is such an important aspect to survival following sudden cardiac arrest, along with calling for help early, and delivering effective chest compressions. Defibrillators, such as the type deployed across Guernsey at PAD sites, are simple and safe to use by untrained bystanders. The operators in JESCC will help you with advice over the phone and the machine itself gives you loud audible prompts once you’ve switched it on.”