TUESDAY, October 16, is Restart a Heart Day – the day people across the country are urged to learn life-saving skills, such as CPR and using defibrillators.
Last year 195,000 young people in the UK were trained in life-saving skills but the attributes need to be taken up by people of all ages as it is never known when they will be needed and who will be there at the time.
The day is backed by Rob and Maggie Underwood from Charlotte and Craig Saving Hearts Foundation, a charity started when the pair faced a situation no parent should ever have to face.
Charlotte died suddenly in December 2010 of Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome. Then three years later their son Craig tragically passed away from Vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Carrick died of the same condition in January this year.
There are only 230 people diagnosed with Vascular EDS in the UK and three more of Rob and Maggie’s children are among them. Two more are waiting to be tested for the condition.
The pair have been tirelessly campaigning, not only to ensure people learn those life-saving skills that could make a difference in life and death situations, but also to get defibrillators in as many places as possible.
To date the pair have raised £450,000 and helped get more than 300 life-saving defibrillators in hundreds of venues across Bromsgrove, Redditch and other areas.
And from 9am on Tuesday, October 16, they will be in Redditch’s Kingfisher Centre – at the old Thornton’s shop opposite Poundland – where people can learn those basic life-saving skills in less than half an hour.
Rob said: “We want to teach as many people as possible on that day because they are skills that everyone should know.
“It costs nothing apart from five or ten minutes of their time.
“The West Midlands usually fares well on Restart a Heart Day and we will be interested to see how many people come down on the day.
“What they learn on Tuesday could save a life that week, later this month or sometime in the future.
“It could be your partner or child – the intervention that you make could make all the difference.”
Rob said the most shocking statistic was not the number of people who did not know the vital skills but that 70 per cent of the population would be too scared to do anything if they were presented with someone in cardiac arrest.
“We want to change all that and give people the confidence and the skills to at least do something.”
Rod Stewart’s wife Penny Lancaster has nominated Rob and Maggie for The Sun’s ‘Who Cares Wins’ health awards for the work they have done and their campaigning.
They want the teaching of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to be made compulsory in schools and be made part of the national curriculum.
They also want to make it law for every building to have a defibrillator in the same way they have to have fire extinguishers.
At The Sun Health Awards held at the British Medical Association headquarters in London, Rob and Maggie finished in the final three in the Christina Newbury Memorial award category.
Prime Minister Theresa May also asked to speak to them.
Rob said: “Maggie spoke to her and explained what we want to do and what we want to see and she seemed very receptive.
“Hopefully we will see changes at a national level that will benefit all of us if we have a cardiac arrest and alterations that will hopefully save more lives.”
Visit ccshf.org.uk for more information on the charity and
http://www.ccshf.org.uk/defibrillator-locations/4587731245 for a list of the defibrillator locations in Bromsgrove, Redditch and the surrounding areas.
