Blog

In December last year Herefordshire Heartstart volunteers delivered the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Heartstart course at Border Oak, Kingsland. Staff from across the company attended. Little did they know that only a few short weeks later they would be using their new skills for real.

In early 2019 John Greene, one of the directors at Border Oak, suffered a life threatening cardiac arrest. Prompt action by staff using the skills learned on the Heartstart course, while waiting for the emergency services to arrive, ensured that John was given the best chance of survival.

Ewa Michalczyk, an employee at Border Oak, has decided to turn this traumatic experience into a positive by entering Cardiff 10K in September 2019. She will be fundraising for Herefordshire Heartstart and believes that everyone should have the opportunity to attend a Heartstart course. She hopes that by sharing their story at Border Oak it will encourage more people to go on the training and ultimately save more lives.

Currently in the UK, less than 1 in 10 people survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest. Studies have shown that bystander CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) doubles the likelihood of survival. The British Heart Foundation aspire to build a nation of life savers. Herefordshire Heartstart are working hard to achieve this aim in Herefordshire. With the support of local businesses and fundraising we provide free courses in CPR and other emergency life saving skills to members of the public.

Herefordshire Heartstart is a voluntary organisation, established in 1996. Our instructors are volunteers from various walks of life, all with the same notion – to save lives. We don’t get any Government or British Heart Foundation funding for our scheme, so every donation is hugely valuable to us. To date, Herefordshire Heartstart has trained over 25,000 people in Herefordshire. We know, from stories like those at Border Oak, that skills learned on these courses really do save lives.

If you would like to find out more about Herefordshire Heartstart; either to participate in one of our life saving courses or to find out about becoming a volunteer please contact Sarah (our coordinator) at info@herefordshireheartstart.org.