A project to coincide with the Skenfrith fun day is helping raise awareness of the life-saving equipment now being installed around the county.

The Village Life group, who manage the defibrillators in the area, is embarking on trialing a new idea - that of community bleed kits, which are increasingly becoming available elsewhere in the UK. They are intended for use by members of the public in case of serious bleeding injury, whether in towns, cities or rural areas. As with defibrillators, they can potentially be lifesaving in the critical time period before paramedics reach a serious incident.

The driving force behind the bleed kits is the Daniel Baird Foundation charity which was set up by the Baird family after their brother and son Daniel, who was just 26-years-old, was fatally stabbed in the early hours outside the Forge Tavern in Birmingham following a night at with friends.

There was no first aid or bleeding control kits available and he died shortly after arriving at hospital due to catastrophic bleeding.

The charity aims to raise awareness of the importance of having publicly accessible bleeding control packs available and are working closely with local government organizations community groups and business organizations to get these vital bleed control kits into as many venues as possible.

Tom Pitts-Tucker, one of the volunteers with Village Life said: “We want to publicise the new community bleed kit which will be installed next to the defibrillator in Skenfrith on a trial basis . Another one has already kindly been made available by the owner of Pwll y Cwm Barn in the Hendre.

“The more that people know about them the better, in case they are needed in emergency. Ideally the location of each bleed kit should also be available to the 999 ambulance call service who can then advise on how to use the various dressings, tourniquets and other equipment in the kit if need be.

“Instructions are also provided within each kit itself. Various methods of coordinating information on bleed kits are being tried out across the country, with about 400 having already been installed in Wales. If the trial is successful in gaining support locally, Village Life hopes to extend the bleed kit scheme to other defib sites in the area.

The Baird Foundation is also campaigning for first aid training to incorporate catastrophic bleeding control as a mandatory element of the training.

The Village Life project installs defibrillators and sets up CPR training around the county and have gone up from managing five to now 14 defibrillators, having been asked last year by community councils to make sure all the life-saving machines in the area are maintained in good order and get replaced as they reach the end of their working lives.

Tom added, “Survival rates after cardiac arrest outside hospital are still disappointingly low in Wales. We're keen to improve on this, in line with the national Save a Life Cymru Campaign, by offering more local training sessions. People can sign up for these by emailing: [email protected].