MODERN technology is providing extra health care services in Burton-in-Kendal.

The village has received a heart defibrillator from the British Heart Foundation, and will now be able to treat emergencies while waiting for assistance from the ambulance service.

BT Paging has donated alpha 747i pagers to the 20 volunteers so that they can be notified as soon as they are needed.

The volunteers are being trained by Cumbria Ambulance Service on how to use the defibrillator equipment.

The pagers have a group number facility, which means one message can be sent to all the pagers simultaneously.

This prevents any risk of delay in the call for help.

The volunteers are being co-ordinated by Sue Hargreaves, who decided to set up the voluntary service, Heartwatch.

Mrs Hargreaves said: "We are not near a hospital and we wanted to be able to carry out emergency procedures while waiting for assistance to arrive.

The pagers from BT ensure all volunteers can be easily contacted at the same time.

We can respond quickly when needed and responsibility does not just rest with one person."