Vehicle distributor in the Black Country launches drive to install life-saving defibrillators in the community
A commercial vehicle distributor has launched an ambitious drive to install lifesaving heart defibrillators within the community of the Black Country.
Hartshorne Group is partnering with the West Midlands Ambulance Service about where best to locate the medical devices, which can save the life of somebody experiencing a cardiac arrest.
The company says its Healthy Heart Campaign will also be kind to the planet by encouraging staff to walk or cycle to work in order to raise funds.
Hartshorne managing director Ian Middleton said: "We know how important a healthy heart is, so we wanted to do something that benefits not just our staff but also the whole community."
More than 30,000 people a year in the UK suffer a cardiac arrest that takes place somewhere other than a hospital. Less than one in ten survive. Defibrillators come with voice instructions and can be used by anyone to help restart a heart in an emergency. However, many are not registered for public use.
Andy Jeynes, community response manager for West Midlands Ambulance Service, recently visited Hartshorne Group in order to provide advice to staff.
Andy said: "We're delighted to be partnering with Hartshorne Group to help advise on its campaign. Defibrillators save lives, it's as simple as that."
Hartshorne, which supplies and services Volvo commercial vehicles, will donate £1 towards community-based defibrillators for every hour of physical exercise that staff track via an app.
The company, which has a head office in Walsall, is also paying for defibrillators to be installed at its nine depots across the Midlands, the first of which has already been installed at its hub in Erdington, Birmingham.
The defibrillators will all be registered with The Circuit, a national defibrillator database that is used to direct 999-callers to their locations in an emergency.
Ian Middleton added: "We saw during the Euros last year with Christian Eriksen, and more recently in the crowd during a Premier League football game, that cardiac arrests can occur unexpectedly at any place."
Ambulance chiefs say that businesses and organisations can register defibrillators for public use via the national database by going online at www.thecircuit.uk
