North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) is delighted to announce it will officially launch CardiacSmart on 28 February 2013, with an event to celebrate the first set of CardiacSmart accredited organisations, the 20 companies and individuals who have achieved CardiacSmart status
The event will be at The Barton Grange Hotel, Preston.
Trust Acting CEO Bob Williams and Chairman Mary Whyham will hand awards to those who have successfully met the criteria of Bronze, Silver or Gold CardiacSmart status to recognise their achievement. Representatives from the Trust’s Chain of Survival team and British Heart Foundation will also be in attendance.
About 30,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital each year. Every minute a person does not receive treatment their chance of survival decreases by 10%. Cardiac arrest is the most extreme case of an emergency, as the patient loses consciousness at once and there are no signs of life. Defibrillators give an electric shock through the chest wall and help to restore a normal heartbeat.
The CardiacSmart initiative, born from the Chain of Survival Partnership in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation (BHF), works to extend the network coverage of public access Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) within local communities across the North West. It also looks to training more individuals in basic life support skills.
The initiative helps promote awareness of heart health, and awards community groups, organisations and individuals for their commitments to increasing this awareness within their local community or workplace.
The criteria for achieving each standard increases across the three levels of Bronze, Silver and Gold; and involves, for example, groups being able to demonstrate how they have trained, and been trained in, life-saving skills including the four stages of the Chain of Survival, promote heart health messages and installation of public access AEDs.
The launch event will reveal all winners and their level of award, as well as more information about CardiacSmart. On the day there will be the opportunity to meet Bridget Brice, a cardiac arrest survivor and all winners of the awards, as well as the Ambulance Service’s Acting NWAS Chief Executive, Bob Williams, and Chairman, Mary Whyham.
Bob Williams said “The CardiacSmart award is a great way to engage with local community groups and business organisations in raising awareness of heart health. The award criteria provides very structured and all-encompassing guidance to achieving a good level of heart safety; making it easier for groups to be able to think about all aspects of promoting the message and making their communities safer, from education to their own engagement with their community.
“We hope that all those who have received their awards, will vouch for the initiative, and prompt more people, community groups and organisations to begin to think more about how CardiacSmart they could become.”
If you would be interested in finding out more about the CardiacSmart initiative, visit cardiacsmart