A family’s fundraising puts emergency heart equipment within reach
A family in Newtownabbey has turned a sudden loss into practical help for neighbours facing a cardiac emergency.
Set up after David Richmond’s death in 2024, the David James Richmond Foundation has helped install more than 13 community defibrillators, alongside CPR and defibrillator training. The work was recognised in the BBC’s Northern Ireland Make a Difference Awards.
The two parts belong together: equipment needs to be within reach, and people need confidence to act. The British Heart Foundation explains that these devices give spoken instructions, check the heart’s rhythm and advise a shock only when needed. Formal training is not required to use one.
The installation total does not tell us how often the equipment has been used or how many lives it has saved. Defibrillators also work alongside an emergency response, rather than replacing a call to 999 and CPR.
Still, the family’s effort has left something useful behind: more places where a neighbour can find a defibrillator, and more opportunities to learn what to do while help is on its way.
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