A SWANSEA Valley village has become the latest community to launch life-saving equipment in the area.

An official launch for the new defibrillators at both Cwmllynfell Welfare Hall and Rhiwafwr Hall was held earlier this month, which was attended by councillors and committee members.

Cwmllynfell Community Council was initially prompted to consider the provision of publicly accessible defibrillators in the community last November after receiving a letter from Ms Suzy Davies AM, in which she referred to a previous project that had been undertaken at Reynoldston, Gower to provide the life-saving equipment.

The Council was aware that the First Responders Group, that had previously operated in the community which had received financial support from the Council was no longer functioning and decided to make enquires to the All Wales Ambulance Service to consider providing a First Responder Service in the area.

Sally Richards, Cwmllynfell Community Council clerk, said: “A meeting was held with Dean Llewellyn, Director of the All Wales Ambulance Services, who is also part of the Ystradgynlais Community First Responder team.

“Mr Llewellyn indicated that he was interested in expanding the team to cover the area as far as Cwmllynfell. He also provided useful information about Automated External Defibrillators and explained that he wished to promote the placing of such equipment in communities. He explained that the equipment would be accessible by a code released by the 999 emergency service controllers.”

“We pursued enquiries of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust with regard to the equipment and were advised by Adrian Hooper of the Trust’s Public Access Defibrillation Scheme and CFR Office on the two types of defibrillators that they and the British Heart Foundation were recommending.”

Chairman Paul Morgan added: “The Council opted to source Zoll AED plus defibrillators and co-operated with Cwmllynfell Hall and Rhiwafwr Hall in allowing cabinets to be located outside the premises.

“The Council is grateful for the assistance that has been received from all the parties that have been involved in this project and are pleased to announce that the defibrillators have now been installed and are available for use.”