This is our fundraising page for Donate for Defib Weston-Super-Mare in partnership with Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA), where you can chip into the pot (or put on your own fundraiser!) and support the life-saving work of DSAA at the same time.

The team behind the project:

Senior Management Team - all roles are voluntary. 

Josh Bell  - Project Lead of The Donate For Defib Weston-Super-Mare Project 

Josh is a Student Paramedic and Co-founded the project. Josh supports the day-to-day operations of the work and supports with the emails, operational status and project management.  

Christina Chell - Deputy Project Lead & Sponsorship & Grants Representative of The Donate For Defib Weston-Super-Mare Project

Christina is a Registered Nurse and looks after any Grants / Sponsorship available for the project and also support the Project Lead with emails, operational status, various schemes that the project has running and also liaising with the team at Great Western Air Ambulance Charity..

Elizabeth Bell - Volunteer Lead of The Donate For Defib Weston-Super-Mare Project

Liz supports the day-to-day operations along with fundraising events as the project expands and drives for more volunteers to join the tea. Liz will be supporting the volunteers in their new roles along with various other schemes that we have linked to Great Western Air Ambulance including education, recruitment, and day-to-day operations. 

John Bell - Maintenance Contracting Lead of The Donate For Defib Weston-Super-Mare Project

John will arrange and coordinate the installation of new Defibrillators with the electrical teams and contractors that we have as our proud sponsors who volunteer to install our defibrillators. John also supports our fundraising events and enables the successful installation of our defibrillators and also enables that if there is a maintenance issue within our Project Office, he is often able to fix the problems.  

Peter Elston - Corporate Lead Ambassador of The Donate For Defib Weston-Super-Mare Project

Peter is our Project Lead Ambassador who coordinates and liaises with local press, companies, organisations and supporters / proud sponsors. Peter is also a professional photographer and supports the project by taking photographs for the team at events/conferences and arranging meetings with companies and supporters. 

Jay Isaac - Website & Social Media Lead of The Donate For Defib Weston-Super-Mare Project

Jay supports the project, by creating and updating our Social Media & Website. He is currently a college student in Bristol, but supports us in his spare time. He has a talent for Social Media / Website Design and is an asset to the Team. His dad, Andy is the owner of The George & Dragon Pub in Weston and they have installed a defibrillator and enabled this to be publicly accessible, which is a great achievement.

AMS Electrical  

Huge thanks too to this company who are also supporting the team to install more defibrillators around Weston.

Prof. Graham Stuart, Consultant Cardiologist

Adding professional credibility to the project, Prof. Graham Stuart, a consultant cardiologist, was welcomed to the team in December 2023.

As the project's clinical lead ambassador, he offers important clinical insight, and latest research to further inform the project's work.

Maya - Defib Dog Mascot

Maya is our 4 legged friend who is a 3-year-old sheepadoodle also nicknamed as 'Skoobiedoodle' from our friends at Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat, and Maya is our Defib Dog Mascot with her own Hashtags on our Facebook Page, #MayaDefibDogMascot & #MayaDefibDogMascotAndFriends.

How You Can Help

We are currently raising funds by undertaking fundraising events and asking local businesses and groups to donate. We hope you will show your support by making a donation through this page.

Our Goal

There are not enough defibrillators in the local communities of Dorset and Somerset and it’s vital that defibrillators are accessible to anyone at any time. So we’re raising money to fund public access defibrillators, to get as many installed as we can, and hopefully ensure that every pub has one, or there is a defibrillator installed very nearby. We need your help to help make this possible. A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time and with awful survival rates in this country, we can do something about this.

CPR and defibrillation before an ambulance arrives can increase the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest from one in 10 to seven in 10.

So, to reduce avoidable and needless deaths, our goal is that anyone who suffers a cardiac arrest will receive immediate CPR and then defibrillation within five minutes. Each one-minute delay decreases their survival chances by another 10 percent, so defibrillators need to be close by, publicly available and used when time is critical.

Can you help us raise £1705 for each defibrillator?

Along with our public defibrillators, we can continue to raise funds towards the ongoing consumables necessary to keep them ‘rescue ready’ and any surplus funds will go towards supporting the excellent work of DSAA.

Since March 2000, DSAA has been there for critically ill and injured people when they need help the most. The enhanced skills of their team, specialist equipment and drugs that they carry, along with the speed of their response, can make the difference between life and death.

Their team of highly skilled pilots, critical care practitioners and doctors are operational for 19 hours a day (7.00am-2.00am), 365 days a year; together they work tirelessly to save lives.

Approximately 25% of the missions their crew are tasked to each year are cardiac arrests. Their crew can be anywhere within Dorset and Somerset within 20 minutes, but the care the patient receives before we get there can play a vital role in their survival.

The service they provide is 95% funded by charitable giving, by people like you. They receive no direct funding from the Government or the National Lottery and each mission they are tasked to costs approximately £3,500.

So let’s dig deep and give what we can to help fund not only our own public access defibrillators across Dorset and Somerset, but the subsequent care that DSAA can provide to those suffering a cardiac arrest.

For more information about DSAA’s defibrillator package, please visit: www.dsairambulance.org.uk/defibrillator-package