Football coaches in Pudsey are set to benefit from emergency defibrillator training after Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen was revived during a Euro 2021 game on Saturday.
Eriksen was given emergency CPR on the pitch after collapsing just before half-time in Saturday’s game with Finland.
Denmark team doctor Morten Boesen said Eriksen was “gone”, but swift treatment on the field of play and by hospital staff meant the midfielder was stabilised and is now recovering in hospital.
Pudsey councillor Simon Seary has almost immediately organised a defibrillator and CPR familiarisation training session for all local football coaches to attend at Queens Park at 7pm on Tuesday (June 15).
Cllr Seary said:
“I’ve approached First aid trainer Janice Whitehead and her team who will talk the coaches through CPR and how to access one of the 21 defibrillators across Pudsey, Swinnow and Tyersal and how to use it, the session will last 1hr maximum, feel free to pop over for a refresher, it’s all very informal but will allow coaches to get hands on and gain confidence.
“Massive thank you needs to go to the Community First Responders who will be running the event with other partners joining in.
“We will have seven first aider trainers on the field with defib training devices and mannequin.”
The Pudsey Carnival Defibrillator Fund means the town is particularly well stocked with the lifesaving equipment. Zoom into the map below to see their exact locations in Pudsey.
The carnival fund, which has been supported by groups and individuals across the town, was inspired in 2016 by the Royal Hotel’s siting of the first defibrillator and a runner being saved by a mobile machine at Bramley parkrun.
The locations of the defibrillators are lodged with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service so when people call an ambulance for someone who is suffering a suspected cardiac incident, the emergency operator will inform the caller of the nearest defib location.