Providing the sparks for a healthier and safer community
All of us know someone who has been affected by a cardiac emergency in their lifetime. This doesn’t come as a surprise when over 100,000 people die every year from cardiac arrest, with 60,000 of these deaths occurring outside of hospitals and in the community. It was therefore great to meet with the St John Ambulance in Parliament to discuss their valuable work.
I met with the St John Ambulance Cadets, NHS Cadets and Community Champions who help support first aid resilience in communities and create a healthier and safer future. As one of the nation’s largest youth volunteering movements, St John Ambulance programmes help young people from the ages of 5 to 25 to learn first aid, build confidence, make new friends, and gain important life skills, to support first aid resilience in their communities and help create a healthier and safer future.
St John Ambulance have also created a new First Aid pack, the Public Access Trauma (PAcT) First Aid Kit. These first aid kits are designed to save lives by being kept in public places, such as arenas, football stadiums and railway stations. The design came about in the light of the tragic events of the Manchester Arena Bombing, if these first aid packs are in areas of public gatherings in the event of an incident or attack these trauma kits could save lives. This is a fantastic piece of medical equipment which is needed in public areas to prevent tragic loss of life and I would like to see more of these in communities.
Defibrillators are a huge benefit for communities to have in public spaces and schools, having the potential to save lives, with latest research showing that accessing these devices within 3-5 minutes of a cardiac arrest increases the chance of survival by over 40%. State-funded schools across England will receive defibrillators under new plans by the Government to make sure there is a device in every school, boosting their numbers in communities too. It’s tragic that Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS) kills 12 young people under the age of 35 every single week in the UK. The Oliver King Foundation was set up to make sure there is a defibrillator on every school site following Oliver’s tragic death (aged 12) in 2011 due to SADs.
Recently I opened a new defibrillator outside the Wobbly Stamp in the heart of Cheadle Village, giving the community easy access in case of an emergency. This device was part funded by Cheadle Town Football Club, the Manchester Airport Community Group Fund and Cheadle Area grants. I would like to thank all those who were involved in the fundraising effort for such a crucial piece of life saving equipment.
We never know when we may require lifesaving but, we can prepare and future proof our communities and public spaces for these incidents. By having easy access to defibrillators and first aids packs we can save lives and create a healthier future for us all.
