Defib for Stepps

Strathclyde University Women’s Hockey Club have made the decision this year to fundraise in the hope to be able to purchase defibrillation equipment for external use within the community. As the university campus lies in the heart of the city center having this defibrillation equipment will increase chance of survival in any case of a sudden cardiac arrest. In Britain, approximately 30,000 people were struck by a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting and in Scotland alone 3,500 people are treated by the ambulance service. This is equal to 70 people per week. Each year approximately 270 children die in UK school’s as a result of a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This means that most of the UK’s population each year are affected in some way as a result of a SCA. In the UK, as call to arrival times are usually greater than 10 minutes, ambulances often arrive too late to successfully resuscitate most people with out of hospital SCA. The best chance of survival for a casualty with SCA is prompt access to a defibrillator and CPR. Every minute without CPR or defibrillation leads to a decrease in the patient’s chances of surviving. If a defibrillator is used within 3-5 minutes, the survival rate increases from 6% to 74%. CPR alone only has a survival rate of 5% and therefore a defibrillator is an essential piece of equipment for a SCA. Save a life for Scotland in conjunction with St. John Scotland aim to train 500,000 people in CPR and the use of a defibrillator in the hope to save 1,000 lives by 2020. Overall in Scotland, there are 1900 defibrillators registered in local communities. However, the Scottish Govt are trying to make it a legal requirement for all automated external defibrillators to be registered with the Scottish Ambulance service as this would allow 999 operators to identify the nearly public defibrillator for bystanders.

To kick start our fundraising campaign we will be embarking on a ‘Move-it’ week which is an initiative alongside our Sports Union which sees clubs ‘Move it for November.’ Each team within the club has an allocated day where they will be completing a physical challenge that they have set themselves. Within our club many girls and their families have been personally affected by a sudden cardiac arrest and therefore this is definitely a cause that is very close to our hearts. Please check out our fundraising page and if you can make a donation, big or small to this very worthwhile cause!