We are delighted to have partnered with The OurJay Foundation based in Rugby and Turtle Engineering, to introduce the country’s first wind and solar powered defibrillator cabinet on a residential development site and the sustainably-heated, public defibrillator cabinet stands proud in Houlton in key phase three where there is still considerable development underway.
Turtle’s combined solar and wind power technology ensures a cabinet can be kept heated 24/7, even when there’s no electricity supply. Defibrillators must maintain a temperature above 0 degrees, but above 10 degrees is recommended, so they need to be kept indoors or be in a heated cabinet if external. Solar power alone cannot guarantee the maintenance of temperature in dark and cold UK winters but this new technology is enabling defibrilators to be installed in areas where electricity supply may be restricted like construction areas. OurJay have been working with us at U&C for several years to install traditional defibrilators in the new community at the local schools and Dollman Farm but with another 4000 homes still to build at Houlton, the charity approached us to introduce Turtle and their new solar and wind powered cabinet solution to enable defib access in construction areas.
Designed and manufactured by Turtle, this is their twelfth solar defib cabinet to be installed in the UK, and the first on a residential development site. For every minute that someone’s in cardiac arrest without receiving CPR or having a defibrillator used on them, their chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent.
The OurJay Foundation was founded by Naomi, a Rugby resident, after she sadly lost her son Jamie due to the lack of an accessible defibrillator nearby, which could have saved his life. It proudly stands as one of the Houlton community’s chosen charities.
We are so grateful to the team at Urban&Civic for seeing Jamie’s legacy and inspiration and making sure we could achieve this vital piece of life saving equipment for the Houlton community. Heart safety is becoming so much more important to people and through our partnership with Urban&Civic, Houlton now have a defibrillator for every 300 units - this is very unique and we are very proud of this. Thank you also to Turtle for manufacturing such a fantastic idea in this sustainable defibrillator option.
Naomi Rees-Issitt, the founder of the OurJay Foundation
Developers and contractors can deliver far greater reaching benefits when they partner with local charities, and bespoke needs – like a lack of community accessible defib cabinets – can be uncovered and addressed. We’re delighted to help OurJay and Urban&Civic achieve their goals at Houlton and applaud them for their partnership. Location and an electricity supply is no longer a barrier when it comes to being prepared for cardiac arrest emergencies, and we thank OurJay Foundation for championing this message with our wind and solar powered defib cabinet in Houlton.
Mike Dowson, Founder and MD of Turtle Defib Cabinets