National home improvement retailer Wickes has partnered with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to fit live-saving defibrillators across all 230 of its stores.
Supplied by BHF, the defibrillators will be registered on The Circuit, the national defibrillator network to provide assistance to members of the public in emergency situations.
According to Wickes, 238 defibrillators have already been installed across its stores, with some retail locations also having multiple units.
As well as rolling out the defibrillators nationwide, Wickes says it will also train its staff in RevivR, the mobile training focused on when and how to do CPR to save someone’s life. BHF says this online training tool will teach Wickes’ staff livesaving medical skills in just 15 minutes, equipping more people with the knowledge of how to act in emergency situations.
According to the BHF, over 30,000 people in the UK experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year, yet fewer than one in ten survive. Through this new initiative, Wickes and the BHF believe their partnership can improve survival rates and make a real difference nationwide.
Simon Dunn, head of The Circuit operations at the BHF, commented: “We are delighted to partner with Wickes – they are making a vital contribution to communities across the UK by ensuring that defibrillators are not only found in their stores, but also registered on The Circuit, so emergency services can direct bystanders to the nearest device in the event of an out of hospital cardiac arrest. “We are also very grateful to Wickes for rolling out RevivR, our simple online CPR learning tool to its staff, equipping them with this invaluable, lifesaving skill.”
