The Cinnamon Trust story
A defib for Cornwall: How the Cinnamon Trust charity made the community heart-safe.
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Caring for vulnerable people - and protecting the communities around them.
The Cinnamon Trust is one of the UK’s most unique charities, supporting older people and terminally ill owners to keep their beloved pets for as long as possible.
With around 20,000 volunteers across the country, the charity provides practical support including dog walking, pet care, and long-term fostering. It also operates specialist animal sanctuaries in Cornwall and Devon, with a third sanctuary planned in Wales. However, the charity’s rural sanctuary locations also highlighted a serious challenge: emergency medical response times.
Following a health incident involving a staff member, the team realised that relying solely on ambulance response in remote locations could leave staff, volunteers, visitors and neighbours vulnerable.
“Because of the rural locations of some of our sanctuaries, we understood that even with the best efforts of the ambulance service, emergency response times could sometimes take up to half an hour.” Patrick Williams, CEO, The Cinnamon Trust.
The charity decided to install publicly accessible defibrillators across its sanctuary sites using the MyCommunityDefib model.
Why The Cinnamon Trust Chose MyCommunityDefib
While researching suppliers, the team were looking for more than just equipment. Reliability, simplicity and long-term support were key considerations. Patrick Williams explained that the decision came down to trust, value and practicality.
“Your website was easy to understand and what I read resonated with us - a bit like The Cinnamon Trust itself.”
The organisation also valued several features that differentiated the MyCommunityDefib approach:
- Fully maintained 4-year support package
- Theft and replacement protection
- Unlocked 24/7 public access cabinets
- Ease of use for local communities
- Ability for neighbours and volunteers to access the defibrillators immediately
The unlocked cabinet model was particularly important because mobile phone signal is unreliable around some sanctuary sites.
“If you were relying on calling for a code, you simply wouldn’t be able to get through in some areas. That’s one of the reasons we chose you. The cabinets being unlocked made complete sense for us.”
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