Have a Heart finds a new sponsor – reprinted courtesy of The Tamworth Herald
These devices should be distributed everywhere and we want to get involved and do our bit to be like Florence Nightingale.
Says Maddy Wickens pictured above with Chris Winter
The company, which is based on Amington Industrial Estate on Silica Road, works with young people and adults with mental health, autism and learning disabilities, is hoping to reach out into the community further.
After reading about our campaign to get ten defibrillators up across the town, they have been inspired to get involved and get at least one device put up on their estate.
Chris Winter, CEO of Care First Skills Tank, said:
We want to be at the heart of the community with everything that we do and this is why we have joined the Herald’s Have a Heart Campaign.
To my knowledge, we do not have any defibrillators in and around here and we often get quite a lot of people coming this way, so it would benefit the area to get one.
Maddy has been bringing me the Herald for weeks and I have been following the Have a Heart Campaign for some time.
It has been on my mind for a while and we thought now was the best time to pick up on it and get involved.
I don’t start things off slowly, once they start I get them done and when we secure our first defibrillator, which will be the benchmark to get even more.
Who knows before long, we could have them up everywhere!
Care First Skills Tank has been operating in Tamworth for the last four years and has a number of features to support people and develop their skills.
Staff praised our campaign and are planning to hold a series of events in a bid to raise money towards a device to benefit the whole of the surrounding industrial estate.
Maddy Wickens, said:
My dad had five heart attacks and he was always in the right place at the right time to be rescued.
We hope that this device is never used but by having it up, it could save a life and that is the main aim of this.
We get a lot of elderly people walking around here and we have a real mix of different businesses so I think there is definitely a case to have one up around here.
All our clients will be really excited about getting involved, they always like being in the paper so I am sure we will raise the money very quickly and get this device up and operational as soon as possible.
The more we can get put up, the better.
So far we have seen seven defibrillators put up across Tamworth as part of our Have a Heart Campaign and we continue to inspire people to share their stories of how the life-saving devices saved them.
Many have also been learning about the importance of CPR and the impact it can have on saving lives. Others have also vowed to raise money themselves to see these devices up and running across Tamworth.
The Globe Inn, in Wilnecote, was the first business to get a device installed as part of the Herald’s Have a Heart Campaign, Gillway Galaxy FC came in second with their purchase and Isa Blunt and her kind donation was third.
The fourth defibrillator was put up in Tamworth Railway Station, fifth was the device on the Wilnecote’s Co-operative Funeral Care branch and the sixth came from Tamworth Cricket, Hockey and Squash club.
Andrew Turland has purchased our seventh device with his kind donation and that will take pride of place on the Tamworth Co-op Society’s funeral services base.
We are so close to reaching our target of ten, all we ask now is that people keep coming forward, keep donating and keep having a heart for Tamworth
Care First has 7 Skills Tank hubs across Birmingham and Tamworth all helping young people and adults with mental health, autism and learning disabilities to live and learn for a better future, to find out more call Glenys/Wayne on 0121 308 6555.
