A LIFESAVING piece of equipment has been installed at Mount Kelly’s 50m swimming pool.

The Mount Kelly Swim Centre in Tavistock announced earlier this week that it has installed an AED (automatic external defibrillator) in its main foyer.

The lifesaving piece of equipment had been donated to the swim centre by Axien Security Limited.

Darren Hession, owner of Axien, has a daughter, Lauren, who swims regularly in the pool as part of the Mount Kelly Swim Squad and it was during a conversation with her about how beneficial AED devices are, that he decided to gift an AED to the pool ‘for everyone’s benefit’.

The new 50m Olympic Legacy swimming pool, opened a year ago by HRH Princess Royal, and the adjacent 25m pool, are used by hundreds of members of the local Tavistock comm-unity, as well as local and regional swim clubs.

Robin Brew, director of swimming at Mount Kelly, said: ‘The only definitive treatment for a victim of cardiac arrest is early CPR and defibrillation which must be administered within three to five minutes following collapse to give a fighting chance of survival. We therefore knew it was imperative to have a defibrillator on-site.

‘This life-saving piece of equipment is vital in ensuring that all our swimming pool users have the best chance of survival in the unfortunate event of a heart attack. We are extremely grateful for this generous gift which benefits us all.’