Council leader and fellow councillors learn how to use a defibrillator

County Councillors have been learning how to use a defibrillator with the leader of the council, Cllr Ian Hudspeth being the latest to undergo the training.

A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a countershock) to the heart when problems have occurred.

A total of seven county councillors have so far undergone the training and Cllr Hudspeth was today joined by another five fellow county councillors: Cllr Nick Carter (Thame & Chinnor), Cllr Mike Fox-Davies (Hendreds & Harwell), Cllr Lorraine Lindsay-Gale (Berinsfield & Garsington), Cllr Susanna Pressel (Oxford Jericho & Osney) and Cllr Hudspeth (Woodstock).

The training is delivered by Dick Tracey who served as an Ambulance Commander with South Central Ambulance Service for 23 years. He recently retired and is devoting his time to raising money towards having defibrillators installed and spreading the word about how important they are.

Councillor Hudspeth said: “I enjoyed the training a great deal. As many people as possible should know how to use a defibrillator and I know that Dick Tracey has made it his mission to make sure they and the skills to use them are as widespread as possible in our county.”