Calls for more defibrillators after life of Bayer runner saved near finish line

The demands were backed by the hero police officer who helped save the man.
Pc Keiran Baker, of Newbury Police Station, performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until an automated external defibrillator (AED) was brought to revive his friend and fellow runner, Russell Barrett, of Walton Way, Newbury.
The drama unfolded at Bridge Street on Sunday, just yards from the Market Place finishing line, when Mr Barrett, a 46-year-old father of one, suddenly collapsed at around 11.45am.
Pc Baker said: “I had been about to finish before him, but then I thought we’d cross the line together.”
The officer said he was stunned when, instead of triumphantly finishing alongside him, Mr Barrett collapsed.
But Pc Baker said he used resuscitation techniques learned in his former role as an armed forces medic.
“Russell wasn’t breathing and he had no pulse,” he said. “He was clinically dead. I knew that in situations like that the first few minutes are absolutely vital. I did several rounds of CPR until we could get the AED to him.”
A spokeswoman for the Red Cross, Pam Baggaley, said: “Our crew spotted a runner who was unwell and, together with an ambulance crew and a police officer who had been running, we offered assistance. One of our crew used one of the four AEDs we had on site.”
A spokeswoman for South Central Ambulance Service, Catherine Morrow, confirmed a rapid response vehicle and ambulance crew also assisted.
Mr Barrett was ‘shocked’ with the machine until a regular pulse was re-established. Pc Baker said: “We got him back – he went from no output whatsoever to breathing by himself again.”
A visibly moved Pc Baker was congratulated by onlookers who took turns to shake his hand as he added: “I’ve done this before - but never on someone I know.”
Police officers had begun to clear the Market Place for an emergency landing by the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance, but it proved
unsuitable, so the craft put down on the Northcroft playing fields.
Mr Barrett was transferred to the waiting helicopter by ambulance and flown to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
According to social media reports he was placed in a medically-induced coma, but by yesterday (Wednesday) he was awake and responding to hundreds of well wishers.
One friend wrote: “We were extremely lucky to be accompanied by (Pc Baker), who managed to bring him back to us, along with the Air Ambulance and the hospital’s Cardiac and Thoracic Critical Care Unit.”
Others have set up a ‘Running for Russell’ website to raise cash for both institutions.
It can be accessed here: http://www.justgiving.com/teams/runningforrussell
Mr Barrett is an account director with Bristol-based IP Performance and member of several local amateur dramatic societies.
He is also a keen runner and Newbury Parkrun regular.
With only a two per cent survival rate in the UK among all people suffering a sudden cardiac arrest outside of a healthcare environment, a nearby AED can prove to be a life-saver.
Pc Baker said: “There should be more of them, everywhere. They are exceptional devices and really do make all the difference between life and death.
“There are parts of America where they have them on every lamp post and your chances of surviving a heart attack are something like 85 per cent instead of two per cent here.”
Heartstart Thatcham is trialling a scheme to collect old mobile phones and exchange them for AEDs. For more details visit http://heartstartthatcham.info/phones2aeds
A defibrillator has also been installed in some West Berkshire communities, among them most recently at the Coronation Hall, Kintbury, and in Hampstead Norreys.