A healthcare manager in Sheffield is calling for more funding to ensure life-saving equipment is installed in public spaces across the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The LivingCare group, located at Canon Medical Arena in Sheffield, have decided to hold a raffle to raise money to put new defibrillators on the outside of their buildings at their Sheffield and Leeds locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a current crisis in the UK with the lack of available defibrillators in public spaces, as a lot of them are unregistered and remain unknown to emergency services, meaning they cannot be readily accessed in a cardiac emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Gorse, the business development manager at the LivingCare group, said: \u201cThey are nowhere near readily accessible enough to be sort of valuable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They are only as good as how long it takes to get to one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defibrillation within three – five minutes of cardiac arrest can increase survival rates by 50-70%, being the most effective when used within the first minute of someone collapsing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked if he believed there was a shortage of government funding for defibrillators, Mr Gorse said that: \u201cThere are not enough people making the time and putting the budget together, for the defibrillators, to help the community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any extra money made in the raffle will be donated to the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), which is a charity that is dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac deaths in young people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cry wants every young person to have the opportunity to have a heart screening, as one in 300 people that are tested by CRY will have a potentially life-threatening heart condition that often requires treatment and possible surgery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The increase in the number of defibrillators in accessible places in public will help prevent the number of people that die from a sudden cardiac arrest, as Mr Gorse said that: \u201cA ten minute jog is the last thing you want when someone is having a cardiac arrest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n