Fundraising for Winsford Town Centre Defibrillator

The staff and volunteers at Winsford British Heart Foundation in Cheshire will be taking part in various fundraising activities over the coming months. We aim to raise funds for a defibrillator that is accessible for everyone that visits the town.

As a team working for one of the leading heart charities in the UK we are very aware of the need for access to defibrillators and the important role they have in helping to save lives.

 

Less than 1 in 10 survive a cardiac arrest in the UK. It can happen to anyone, at any time!

Barbara started volunteering with the Winsford British Heart Foundation in September 2018 after retiring from her NHS role as a health visitor. In August 2013 Barbara suffered a cardiac arrest.

Barbara’s story:-

On a sunny day in August, after a lovely lunch in a rural Shropshire town I started to feel unwell. Nothing specific to start, then some heartburn and nausea. The strange sensation down my left arms were accompanied by some breathlessness. No mobile signal, so into a pharmacy, where a request for directions to the local hospital changed to a request to ring 999 as I became extremely distressed.

As the paramedic placed the ECG pad on me I drifted painlessly into a cardiac arrest. CPR and three cycles of cardio conversions and I was conscious again with my heart in a good rhythm. Without British Heart Foundations research into heart attack management I would not be here today, they founded equipment to set up a coronary care unit in Edinburgh in 1967 where the measures including CPR training and having a defibrillator at hand increased survival rates.

In the 1960s few heart attack patients, even those in hospital survived a cardiac arrest. The management for heart attacks has continued to progress so now CPR and use of a Defibrillator is the norm for the emergency services.

Although a horrific event for my husband to witness, my family and I are grateful to Matt the paramedic from the West Midlands ambulance service and to the treatment of heart attack started by the British Heart Foundation in the 1960s.

Fundraising events include:

  • Tough Mudder
  • Bake sale
  • 150km in a week Bike, Row, Run, X-Trainer
  • Face paints and candy floss!

You can donate here.