Heart fund helps Moatmen keep pace

Proud Gresley ended 2013 by becoming the latest Evo-Stik Northern Premier League club to purchase a life-saving defibrillator with the help of the Football Association and British Heart Foundation.

Thanks to a unique partnership between the FA and BHA to underwrite two thirds of a 'defib's' cost since the launch of their £1.2m Defibrillator Fund, the First Division South club’s officials, fans and players now have access to the equipment needed to save lives in their community. The Derbyshire club was also given information on hands-only CPR, made famous for the BHF last year in a nationwide advertising campaign by footballer turned film star Vinnie Jones.

Instead of paying around £1000 for a 'defib', clubs have paid just £318, knocking two thirds off the price. More than 900 at Steps 1-6 were eligible and the scheme proved so popular that it was extended last year following its original launch in March 2012, giving clubs like the Moatmen another chance to equip themselves.

Sponsorship and donations from the club's supporters ensured that Gresley could join more than half the Evo-Stik NPL clubs who’ve already taken advantage of the scheme. Gresley Chairman Barry North is pictured with Jean Bannister and Kate Collier, two of the club’s volunteers who’ve completed the FA First Aid certificate while receiving training on use of the ‘defib’.

North said: "This vital piece of equipment could prove to be the difference between life and death and it's a welcome addition to this club and its community. The FA and BHF have made it possible for Gresley FC to be part of the drive to improve the UK's poor cardiac arrest survival rates. Along with CPR, a defibrillator is a vital link in the chain of survival and we're lucky that we now have the skills and equipment at the club to save a life."

Awareness around sudden cardiac arrests was heightened when former England Under-21 star Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest in the Tottenham Hotspur versus Bolton Wanderers FA Cup tie on March 2012. Muamba's story is even more remarkable as only 1 in 5 people normally survive a witnessed, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK.

A defibrillator, also known as an Automated External Defibrillator or AED, gives the heart a controlled electrical shock during cardiac arrest. For every minute that passes without CPR of defibrillation, chances of survival decrease by about 10 per cent. Research shows giving CPR and a controlled shock within five minutes of collapse provides the best possible chance of survival if CPR has been carried out as well. The British Heart Foundation has already helped place 11,000 defibrillators in the community since 1996.

For more information visit: www.bhf.org.uk/football