Charity aims to save more lives in Malvern with £75,000 fund-raising appeal - The Malvern Observer

Charity aims to save more lives in Malvern with £75,000 fund-raising appeal

Malvern Editorial 18th Jan, 2017   0

RESIDENTS and businesses in Malvern are being urged to donate vital funds to help save people’s lives with the launch of a £75,000 fund-raising appeal.

Charity HeartStart Malvern will next week officially launch its ‘Saving Lives Together’ campaign to raise the five-figure sum which will help fund 50 new defibrillators installed around the town.

And the charity is solely relying on your help during the course of the next twelve months.

HeartStart Malvern’s aim is to reduce premature deaths from cardiac arrests in Malvern and the surrounding villages.




Organisers of the charity say this will be achieved by providing free training for school children and residents in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and how to use a defibrillator and by having 50 defibrillators dotted around Malvern.

The charity says it is estimated that approximately 30 people will suffer a cardiac arrest in Malvern throughout the calendar year.


Statistics also suggest that less than 10 per cent of these patients will survive and the charity want to increase this survival rate to at least 25 per cent which is the current rate in other European countries.

The difference in survival rates is largely due to the number of people trained in simple resuscitation techniques and the availability of public access defibrillators.

The charity believes providing free training and by placing defibrillators around Malvern, four or five more lives could be saved every year.

People and business can help out by making donations online or even settting up fund-raising events throughout the year.

Richard Vakis-Lowe, chairman of Heartstart Malvern and a former paramedic, said: “We are appealing to local businesses and organisations to help us achieve our target of £75,000.

“This is a large sum that we cannot raise without the support of others. The £75,000 will help us buy and install 50 defibrillators.

“With the defibrillators having a 10-year warranty, this means that our Saving Lives 2017 Campaign, together with the training which we are providing, could save about 50 lives over the next 10 years. Even if one life was saved over this period, it would be £75,000 well spent.

“However, we are confident that there will many more lives saved.”

Heartstart Malvern has already started to improve life-saving in the town by providing free training during last autumn and have already trained over 150 people.

The charity has already recruited a team of volunteer trainers who are aiming to train about 1,000 people each year. And in December the charity installed its first public access defibrillator outside Malvern Fire Station on Worcester Road.

Even though the appeal is being launched next Friday, donations can be made right now by visiting www.heartstartmalvern.org.uk.

**THE LAUNCH of the £75,000 fundrasing appeal will be held on Friday, January 27 at Malvern Theatres between 11am and 12pm.

Heartstart Malvern has called for a huge turnout to the event which will also be attended by MP Harriett Baldwin and former Casualty and Holby City star Clive Mantle who will performing at the venue in the lead role of courtroom thriller The Verdict.

THIS guide shows how much your donations to Heartstart Malvern’s new campaign can make a real difference.

£5 would train one person in basic resuscitation skills and defibrillator awareness

£10 would buy a box of 50 manikin cleaning wipes

£25 would fund a Heartstart Malvern training session for a group of up to six people

£50 would buy a set of pads for our training defibrillators

£100 would fund a Heartstart training session for a group of about 25 people

£150 would buy a resuscitation training manikin

£250 would buy a training defibrillator

£500 would buy a secure heated cabinet to keep a public access defibrillator in

£750 would buy a defibrillator cabinet and would cover the cost of installing it

£1,000 would buy a public access defibrillator

£1,750 would buy a defibrillator and enable it to be installed

Visit www.heartstartmalvern.org.uk to make a donation now.

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