Life-saving defib in Sunderland Business Park

BIC receives life saving equipment

David Howell receives life saving defibrillator from Nikki Bell

BHF and North East Business & Innovation Centre to give cardiac arrest victims fighting chance of survival

The North East Business & Innovation Centre (BIC), situated on Sunderland’s Enterprise Park, is to become a community of lifesavers after it has been fitted with a public access defibrillator (PAD) and has been awarded a CPR training kit by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The BIC has been awarded the lifesaving machine and received the Call Push Rescue training kit following their successful application for a Nation of Lifesavers Community Package from the charity.

The Community Package contains the innovative kit which includes everything needed to learn CPR in half an hour. The BIC recently ran a CPR training session with Nikki Bell, Fundraising Manager for the BHF, on-hand to offer support and guidance. They plan to hold more training sessions throughout the year.

The defibrillator is a portable device that can be used by a member of the public to help restart the heart when someone has a cardiac arrest. This is when the heart stops pumping blood around the body and they lose conscious almost at once. For every minute that passes without defibrillation and CPR, chances of survival decrease by around ten per cent. So it’s really important people know both of these vital steps to help someone in an emergency.

Over 1,700 cardiac arrests happen out of hospital in the north east every year but currently less than one in fifteen survive. The BHF want to create a Nation of Lifesavers in a bid to boost these shocking survival rates.

The charity wants all young people to be taught CPR and PAD awareness at school. Since launching the campaign in 2014, at least 350,000 people have joined the Nation of Lifesavers by learning life-saving CPR.

David Howell, Director of Operations at the BIC said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this lifesaving package. The defibrillator has been placed directly outside of our main reception meaning that residents have the best chance of survival should they suffer a cardiac arrest. We’re keen to get as many people as possible trained in CPR too.”

Nikki Bell, Fundraising Manager at the BHF, said: “Every year more than 1,700 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital in the north east but less than one in fifteen survive. More people could be saved if more defibrillators were available in public places and if more people felt confident using them and performing CPR. We are delighted that the North East Business & Innovation have joined the BHF’s Nation of Lifesavers campaign – by making another defibrillator available and teaching CPR locally. It could really be the difference between life and death. ”

The BHF are keen to work with more companies within the north east and induct more people into their Nation of Lifesavers. To find out how you can get involved, contact Nikki Bell on 07702 726 450 or email belln@bhf.org.uk.

For more information on the Nation of Lifesavers campaign, click here 

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