14/09/2026
This morning, early doors, while doing our daily checks on people who are homeless and vulnerable in Dewsbury town centre, we came across a very serious life threatening situation.
A vulnerable homeless man was unconscious and not breathing.
We rang the emergency services and was told by the paramedics to find the nearest defibrillator. The problem was, we didn’t know where one was. we didn’t know if there was one close by, if it was accessible, or if it was even working.
When it became clear there wasn’t one nearby, we were told CPR needed to start.
We had to shout out for help because people were walking past, not realising how serious it was. Thankfully, a member of the public stopped and helped us. While we stayed on the phone to the emergency services, we worked together performing CPR until the paramedics arrived.
The paramedics got there very quickly, took over, and thanked us both. Without our quick intervention, this could have had a very different ending. His life was saved, and we are deeply, deeply grateful.
But this has shown us something that needs sorting in Dewsbury town centre.
We need to know where the defibrillators are in the town centre. We need to know which ones are active, working, accessible and ready to use.
They cannot just be on a wall looking pretty. They have to be working, because they save people’s lives.
If you know where there is a defibrillator in Dewsbury town centre, please let us know:
Where it is
Whether the public can access it
Whether it is working and active
Whether it is available 24 hours or only during opening times
This is not about blame. It is about learning from what happened this morning and making sure Dewsbury town centre is better prepared next time should anyone be in this position in our town.
From all of us at Dewsbury Cares, thank you so much to the member of the public (James) who stopped, helped, and worked with us to perform CPR.
Your actions helped us save a life ❤️
