Concept Hygiene receives Gold Cardiac Smart Award from North West Ambulance Service
Here at Concept Hygiene, we are very passionate about the introduction of AED’s into our product portfolio. We are so pleased that all of our hard work in raising awareness and providing AED’s into the work place has been recognised.
On June 5th our MD Andrew Cotter was awarded with the Gold Cardiac Smart award by the North West Ambulance Services for his efforts in meeting the Cardiac Smart Gold Criteria to help increase the survival rate of those suffering a Cardiac Arrest.
He says “We are very proud and happy to receive this award at the recent Cardiac Smart Awards in June. People are becoming more aware of the benefits of having AED’s in the workplace and public areas and this could save lives.”
The CardiacSmart awards aim to recognise those who have made outstanding contributions to raising awareness and promoting heart health across the North West
The CardiacSmart initiative, aims to extend the coverage of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) within local communities across the North West, as well as training individuals in basic life support skills.
Over 70,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest in the UK each year with less than 1 in 5 receiving the treatment necessary to save their lives.
For each minute that passes after someone has had a Cardiac Arrest their survival chances decrease by 10%, after 5 minutes brain damage starts to occur, after 10 minutes the victim is rarely resuscitated. On average it takes 9 minutes for an ambulance to respond to a Cardiac Arrest call. However, having more readily available AED Defibrillators allows for much quicker response times, which is proven to help lives.
No matter what age or how healthy you are, there are no signs or warnings as to when an individual will suffer from a cardiac arrest. However, what is for certain is that the speed of response, CPR and defibrillation can rapidly improve the chances of saving a person’s life.
Cardiac smart Gold award criteria:
– Engagement with Chain of Survival and Community Resuscitation teams across North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) .
– Promoting the concept of the four stages to the ‘chain of survival‘:
– Increasing numbers of personnel trained in Basic Life support and AED familiarisation and evidence of this.
– Other basic life support/ AED awareness sessions offered to the wider community with commitment to place community access defibrillators.
– Ability to sustain their work
4 Stages of the ‘Chain of Survival:
1- Early recognition: being able to recognise someone is in Cardiac arrest is the first step to helping them.
2- Early CPR: by performing chest compressions you can keep their heart going until a defibrillator arrives.
3- Early defibrillation: For every minute the person doesn’t have a defibrillator attached to their chest, their chances of survival reduce by 10%.
4- Early advanced care: This is delivered by the paramedics who arrive shortly after. If you start CPR within 2 minutes, place a defibrillator on their chest in four minutes and a paramedic arrives in 8, they have a 40% chance of survival.
