After installing 4,000 defibrillators in businesses, workplaces, and community organisations across the UK, Liverpool-based charity The Oliver King Foundation is celebrating a major milestone.
The Oliver King Foundation was established in 2012 after 12-year-old Liverpool schoolboy Oliver King lost his life following a sudden cardiac arrest while taking part in a school swimming race.
The national organisation has since campaigned for a change in legislation so that all schools are required to have lifesaving defibrillators on site. It has also been at the forefront of efforts to install the equipment on business premises as well.
The foundation has worked tirelessly to provide defibrillators in workplaces and recently celebrated delivering more than 4,000 of the devices and associated training courses.
Mark King (pictured with Jim Shannon MP), founder of the Oliver King Foundation, says: “We are proud to have reached this incredible milestone.
“Since 2012 we have worked relentlessly to educate people about the potential of defibrillators to save lives and have now delivered them to over 4,000 workplaces and community organisations across the UK – all of whom know they are essential pieces of kit.
“As far as we are concerned, defibrillators should be as commonplace as fire extinguishers in public buildings. We may have hit the 4,000 mark but we’re not stopping here because we’ve got so much more work to do and more lives to save.
“This is a landmark moment but also a time to accelerate our work and encourage more businesses and workplaces to acquire defibrillators. It is the responsible thing for employers to do.”
North West businesses and organisations including Huyton Asphalt, DAM Health Group and Knowsley Council are among those to have received defibrillators and training from the Oliver King Foundation. A number of schools and colleges in the region have also worked with the charity to secure the equipment.
An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) defibrillator is a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest. This high energy shock is called defibrillation, and it’s an essential part in trying to save the life of someone who’s in cardiac arrest.
The equipment is used in addition to CPR to save the lives of those suffering cardiac arrest. Research has shown that deploying a defibrillator within 3–5 minutes of collapse can produce survival rates as high as 50–70%.
Mr King adds: “Basic training prepares someone to use a defibrillator and it is something we are encouraging more people to do. If there was a defibrillator available in my son’s school then he would still be here today.”
The Oliver King Foundation is calling on organisations which want a defibrillator to get in touch with them on 0151 728 3470.
