A LOCAL councillor is determined to raise money to get more defibrillators installed.

Chris Lunday, elected member for Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor, has set up a Crowdfunder page and will run the Paisley 10k in August.

He hopes to raise funds to increase the availability of defibrillators in the local area.

It comes after cllr Lunday and his colleague cllr Caroline Bamforth attempted to expand the public access defibrillators to all schools in East Renfrewshire.

The proposal was put forward at two council meetings but ended up being rejected.

However, last year, a dedicated fund was launched by the council to increase the number of defibrillators across the local authority. 

The Provost's Community Defibrillator Fund allows donations and funding to be collected and to raise awareness of life-saving skills including CPR and how to use a defibrillator.  

Provost Mary Montague took on the role of the council's Defibrillator Community Champion and works closely with community groups, community planning partners, local stakeholders and private businesses to drive forward the initiative.

To find out the locations of defibrillators across East Renfrewshire, visit defibfinder.uk/.

"Defibrillators are so important and can save lives, so I'm delighted to be able to run in this 10k to support this cause,” cllr Lunday said.

“Most people in Scotland will have had a family member pass from a cardiac arrest and it's important to recognise that a cardiac arrest shouldn't be a death sentence and people can survive with prompt CPR and defibrillation.

“I was delighted to attend a HeartStart Defibrillation and CPR training course when I was first elected as it's such important knowledge to have.

“Our area is quite well served with public-access defibrillators but there is no harm in having more.

“Defibrillation can more than double someone’s chances of survival and it's so important that we have defibrillators all across our community."

Cllr Lunday praised the work of the Levern Valley Defibrillator Partnership, set up by Douglas Yates and volunteers when Barrhead had zero public access defibrillators.