TWO new defibrillators are to be located in Cardigan town centre

The past Mayor, Cllr Clive Davies and his Mayoress, Mrs Myra Davies, presented the two life-saving machines to the town from the Mayor’s Fund during his year in office (2016-17), with £2,000 raised towards their installation.

One will be located in the Guildhall courtyard and the other in Caerleon Pharmacy, Pendre.

A total of 25,000 people in the UK every year will have a sudden cardiac arrest away from immediate medical help – 8,000 of those in Wales.

Speaking at the handover of the machines, Nick Aitken, of Welsh Hearts, said: “The chances of surviving a cardiac arrest in Wales is only three per cent and that is down to the geographics and people now knowing what to do and being frightened of using a machine.

“These machines are very people friendly and we want people not to be afraid of using them and be confident.

“If a shock is delivered within the first three minutes, the chances of survival go up to 49 per cent. Every minute lost is 10 per cent of life gone.”

Welsh Hearts – a Welsh-only charity – has so far placed 850 defibrillator machines across the country in four years and trained 35,000 people in CPR.

Training course dates for the new machines will be announced shortly.