Hartshorne joins forces with ambulance service to save lives

Hartshorne joins forces with ambulance service to save lives
Walsall

Company’s staff trained after heart defibrillators are installed for community use in West Midlands.

A COMMERCIAL vehicle distributor has joined forces with the ambulance service to provide heart defibrillators for community use.

Hartshorne Group has installed the life-saving medical devices at its depots in the Midlands, which are now registered on an official database so that 999-callers can be directed them in an emergency.

The company, which supplies and services Volvo trucks and buses across the region, now plans to install further defibrillators in partnership with West Midlands Ambulance Service.

Defibrillators come with voice instructions so that they can be used by anybody in order to restart somebody’s heart in the event of a cardiac arrest.

Ian Middleton, Managing Director of Hartshorne Group, said: “We are pleased to be funding defibrillators for community use as part of our Healthy Heart Campaign. I’d like to thank the ambulance service for the fantastic support they are providing to help us make this happen.”

Hartshorne recently hosted a training session at which its staff were given advice by the ambulance service, which included being shown how to perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Andy Jeynes, Community Response Manager for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “I’m very proud to support Hartshorne’s initiative to install heart defibrillators. If somebody suffers a cardiac arrest, their chances of survival are greatly increased by CPR and the use of a defibrillator.”

Mr Jeynes is pictured at the recent training session with Hartshorne staff. The company has depots at sites off Chester Road in Birmingham, Bentley Mill Close in Walsall, and Ainsdale Drive in Shrewsbury.

Hartshorne has directly funded the defibrillators. The company also has sites at Alfreton, Burton, Potteries (Newcastle-under-Lyme) and Nottingham.

It is now working to raise additional funds by donating £1 for every hour of healthy exercise that staff track via an app. This can include environmentally friendly methods of commuting, such as walking or cycling to work.

* Ambulance chiefs say any businesses that have defibrillators can register them for public use via the national database at www.thecircuit.co.uk.

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