THE Lions Club of New Norfolk, New Norfolk Junior Football Club and New Norfolk Cricket Club have collaborated to make a defibrillator available for the many groups who use the Tynwald Park sportsfields. A St John Ambulance defibrillator was presented by Lions Club president Kerry Kievit to NNJFC president Ann Burns and NNCC president Jamie Hill on Saturday morning.
The NNJFC, NNCC seniors and juniors, and the New Norfolk Soccer Club use the grounds at Tynwald and bring great numbers of spectators all year round. Community events held in the park will also benefit from the defibrillator being available. Mrs Kievit said the Lions Club was pleased to have been part of the project. “It is a good example of collaboration between community groups. When we work together, we can achieve so much more than working on our own.”
Ms Burns was the driving force behind a collaboration between that club, the New Norfolk Cricket Club and the Lions Club of New Norfolk to make a defibrillator available for the many groups who use Tynwald Park. “When I completed a first aid course recently, I came away thinking that we really need to have a defibrillator. We hope we never have to use it, but it’s there if we do, and will improve our chances to save lives,” she said.
Mr Hill said it was great to have a defibrillator at Tynwald Park. “We learned recently that over 100,000 cars use Tynwald each year. With the new change rooms that number will probably increase,” he said.
The defibrillator will initially be installed in the existing change rooms at Tynwald Park and will be moved into the new change rooms when they are completed. The New Norfolk Junior Football Club and the New Norfolk Cricket Club will jointly take responsibility for maintaining the defibrillator. The two clubs teamed up to cover half of the cost of the defibrillator and the Lions Club covered the remainder.
