A PARAMEDIC has spoken of his ‘disgust’ and ‘disappointment’ after a life-saving defibrillator in Partington was vandalized just months after being installed.

David Blowers, a North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) community specialist paramedic, campaigned to get the AED allocated at Partington Shopping Centre.

NWAS forked out £1,500 to £2,000 for the AED and it was installed back in January.

Vandals have now put people suffering from cardiac arrests in the area at even greater risk by damaging the life-saving device.

The ambulance service was informed that the AED had been damaged on March 31 and is asking anyone who witnessed the vandalism to contact the police.

David Blowers said: “It’s extremely disappointing that this AED has been vandalised, our team worked so hard to get it installed to protect the lives of residents in Partington.

“When defibrillators are not available, because of theft or vandalism, the rate of survival is significantly reduced and for every minute defibrillation is delayed the chances of a patient surviving decreases by 10 per cent. If anyone has any information about the vandalism please contact the local police.”

The purpose of these vital pieces of equipment is to provide essential assistance to someone suffering a life-threatening cardiac arrest as early as possible.

Defibrillators can ‘shock’ a person’s heart into restarting and if this can be done in the first few minutes, patients have a 60-70 per cent chance of making a full recovery.

Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact the police on 101 and quote the incident number ‘928’ for March 31 2016.