Representatives of several city businesses attended a free defibrillator training course which had been organised by Totally Truro, the city's Business Improvement District (BID).

Over 40 people from 15 businesses took advantage of the one hour’s training which was facilitated by Cornwall Resus, who are part of the wider Truro Safe initiative.

Alun Jones, Totally Truro BID manager, said: “Truro now holds more than 20 defibrillators, however many people do not know what one looks like or have the confidence in using one. We feel it is important to help businesses within the city be more aware of this life saving device and most importantly feel confident to use it if the situation occurred.”

The three training sessions were well attended and businesses who came along included Seasalt, Saltrock, Merchant House, Bang & Olufsen, New Look, Argos, Debenhams, Truro City Council, Cornish Mutual, Marks and Spencer, Primark, Weird Fish, Illustrated Living and Hendra's Health and Beauty.

Tabitha Fergus and Amanda Seaton, qualified trainers from Cornwall Resus gave advice on what to do if a person is found unconscious, how to administer CPR and how to use a defibrillator, with a brief look into the difference between coughing and choking and how to dislodge an object blocking the air way.

Mark Warren, Newlook store manager, said: “We were able to practice on a CPR model, assessing the situation, checking if the patient is awake and breathing, telling someone to call an ambulance, locating a defibrillator and quickly applying CPR. My colleagues and I now feel confident that we would know what to do if this situation happened in our store. It was great have it funded by the Truro BID as this type of service is vital to our city.”

Often the defibrillators are locked with a code, and by calling 999, this not only alerts the paramedics, but the access code to unlock and use the defibrillator. Truro is fortunate to have many defibrillators located in the city including one with 24hr access at Lemon Street Market. The definitive list can be found at enjoytruro.co.uk.