Tracey has embarked on a campaign to get defibrillators into the local community. Sudden Cardiac Arrest happens to people of all ages and survival rates across the UK vary from 2-12%. A Sudden Cardiac Arrest victim’s chance of survival increases significantly from around 5% to 75% if they receive good CPR combined with therapy delivered by a Heart Defibrillator within the first 3 minutes after a Cardiac Arrest.
On top of this, regrettably there are 12 children under the age of 18 that die in the UK each week from Cardiac Arrest and many more young adults. This is why Tracey is delighted with the recent deal to provide life-saving defibrillators to schools. The Department for Education has announced a plan to allow schools to purchase defibrillators at a lower cost.
For every minute that passes without defibrillation a Sudden Cardiac Arrest victim’s chances of survival decrease by between 10% & 12%. A simple calculation shows that the victim’s likely maximum chance of survival in reality is between 8 & 10 minutes after the Cardiac Arrest occurring. With the current Ambulance target response time of 8 minutes, time is of the absolute essence and acting quickly with appropriate therapy, essential.
So far, Tracey secured funding for defibrillators for all the secondary schools in her constituency who wanted one, this includes two sports colleges where additional community use of facilities is increased. Chatham Grammar School for Boys, Aylesford Sports College, Greenacre and Walderslade as well as Holmesdale Technology College. This could not have been made possible without support from local councillors, the school children, Asda Chatham and The Gallagher Group as well as support from Community First.
It's coverage can be found at the following links;
http://www.tomorrowshs.com/health-s--390.html
http://greenroom.asda.com/store/chatham
Tracey has also secured funding for a local Rugby Club to have a defib fitted in Aylesford. Tracey has also worked with both Chatham and Aylesford Football Clubs to unveil community defibrillators at both grounds, with financial support kindly donated by Southeast Water’s community chest funds and local councillors.
Tracey has also worked with local councillors to adopt a phone box scheme to get defibrillators housed in our villages. With defibs secured and in place in the small residential villages of Ditton in Aylesford and soon to be in place in Walderslade in Chatham. For more information about this project please see http://www.communityheartbeat.org.uk/adoptatelephonebox.php.