Brian Firth, the Founder of Public Access Defibrillators UK, started his journey in the world of defibrillators many years ago when he joined St John Ambulance as a volunteer First Aider.

The original objective was to learn First Aid to be able to assist his grandchildren in medical emergencies. He quickly became very enthusiastic about First Aid and within 12 months had qualified as a First Aid trainer. His forte and overriding interest was in the use of AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) and in the 2nd year with St John Ambulance he became a qualified trainer for the defibrillators. By the time he left the organisation he was a County Training Officer, training not only new First Aiders, but also divisional managers and other trainers.

During the period with St John Ambulance Brian set up the ‘Bradford University First Aid Society’ and later created the ‘Global First Aid Society’ on Facebook to accommodate students when they returned to their home countries.

Leaving St John Ambulance to become a volunteer First Responder with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service was Brian’s real introduction into the success of early intervention with CPR and the use of defibrillators when someone went into Cardiac Arrest.

Towards the end of Brian’s role as a volunteer First Responder, in 2013, he was informed of the death of a customer in Morrisons car park in Brian’s home town of Guiseley, 20 minutes after Brian had signed off duty. Brian’s immediate thought was that a CPAD (Community Public Access Defibrillator) in the car park may have saved his life, and he researched the availability of CPADs in the area. He was alarmed to find that there wasn’t one CPAD within 7 miles of Guiseley, and decided to raise funds for a CPAD to be installed at Guiseley Morrisons.

The original objective was achieved within weeks and Brian then launched Public Access Defibrillators UK to raise awareness of the benefits of Community Public Access Defibrillators. Neither the relevant Government Departments nor local Councils were initially supportive of such a relatively new scheme and the perceived complexities of administering the day to day running of such a concept. As a totally non profit organisation Brian approached local Lions Clubs and Rotary Clubs etc to gain their support in installing additional CPADs within West Yorkshire.

As the project began to grow and communities became more involved it became necessary to recruit volunteer Defibrillator Guardians and Trainers. Brian now has more than 50 Defibrillator Guardians within West Yorkshire who check their defibrillators every 4 to 6 weeks and following deployments to ensure that they remain rescue ready.

The major change in the attitude of local councils came about as lives started being saved by this new concept, especially that of a Leeds Councillor. Many West Yorkshire based Councils now being very supportive and involved with the project. Although they were available in such as Railway Stations, Airports and Bus Stations in 2013, they were rarely seen in public locations around West Yorkshire.