In October last year the former England manager Glenn Hoddle collapsed after appearing as a pundit on BT Sport.
He had suffered a cardiac arrest and later revealed how he was “brought back to life” by the quick action of a special constable who performed chest compression and fitted a defibrillator on Hoddle’s chest to keep him alive.
There are over 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every year in the UK, and shockingly less than one in 10 survive. When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, performing immediate CPR and using a defibrillator is literally the difference between life and death.
Hearing this inspired Cowgills to invest in one of these life-saving machines for its Bolton office and Cowgills now own an automated external defibrillator.
11 members of staff undertook a half day training session conducted by the British Red Cross and as a result we have 11 members of staff certified to use the defibrillator should the worst happen in the office.
Paul Stringer, Partner, said: “At Cowgills we have made a dedicated commitment to our people. We have invested heavily in a health and wellbeing programme for our colleagues with defibrillator training being one element of it.
We hope we never have to use it, but it is reassuring to know that we now have 11 trained colleagues and we’re well equipped should we need to.
I and the board had no hesitation in making the investment. If it helps to save one life it will be worth every penny.”
Cowgills HR Advisor, Deborah Fallon, who was one of those trained, added: “It is great that Cowgills are investing in the wellbeing of their staff and clients should the unforeseen happen.
A massive thank you has to go to the British Red Cross and the work they do to help raise awareness of the importance of defibrillators. To know that there is a 50-70% chance of survival when a defibrillator is used compared to 5% when CPR is used does put things in perspective.”
Disclaimer
The information was correct at time of publishing but may now be out of date.
