LONDON Marathon runners are gearing up to raise money for an appeal to place defibrillators to be used by the public in every town and village in Cornwall.

At the beginnning of last year, FLEET, which stands for Front Line Emergency Equipment Trust, a charity that supports the emergency teams in Cornwall, started its appeal for Community Public Access Defibrillators (cPAD) for every Cornish village and town.

The defibrillator is contained in a SMART Cabinet on the outside wall of a building, monitored through the internet, backed up by SMS card and checked every 15 minutes for availability.

The cabinet is connected directly to ambulance control via the Internet. When someone dials 999, if the call is a report of cardiac or cardiac arrest then control will direct the caller to the PAD and control opens the cabinet.

Over the years FLEET has worked to reduce the time it takes to get trained staff to a cardiac arrest patient, with projects such as community responders, staff responder scheme and paramedic motorcycles.

In 2014 FLEET had 22 runners in the London Marathon and between them they raised more £100,000 and FLEET has put 30 PADs into place.

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week's edition of the Post.