Hearts for Herts

About us - Hearts for Herts

We have been running as a community group since 2017 and became a charity in 2022. Here is a brief history of our journey to date:

Jump to: 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

2017

  • Justin launched the community group as Heartstart East Hertfordshire in Hertford Heath, affiliated to the British Heart Foundation.
  • The focus of the group was the delivery of the British Heart Foundations 2 hour Heartstart course free of charge, to raise awareness of the importance of learning lifesaving skills in the community and to fundraise.
  • Justin’s original target was to train 1,000 people in the first five years.
Heartstart East Hertfordshire Community Group

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2018

  • Justin took on the challenge of trekking to Mt Everest Base Camp in Nepal with an aim to show that lifesaving skills can be learnt anywhere and used anywhere in the world.
  • Justin is shown here teaching a local Sherpa how to use a defibrillator moments away from reaching Base Camp.
  • Thanks to generous donations from the community, a total of £2,250 was raised and every penny went to the vital work of the British Heart Foundation.
Justin Honey-Jones at Everest base camp teaching first aid Justin Honey-Jones with the British Heart Foundation at Everest Base camp

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2019

  • Justin took on another challenge by trekking to Machu Picchu in Peru with the aim to again show that lifesaving skills can be learnt anywhere and used anywhere in the world.
  • Thanks to generous donations from the community, a total of £2050 was raised and every penny went to the vital work of the British Heart Foundation.
Justin Honey-Jones at Machu Picchu in Peru with the British Heart Foundation Showing lifesaving skills can be done anywhere in the world

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2020

  • Justin was preparing to take on the challenge of Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa in the summer to continue raising awareness that lifesaving skills can be learnt and used anywhere.
  • The plans were brought to a complete halt with Covid 19 and the various lockdowns.
  • All teaching was halted.
  • Justin was nominated for the British Heart Foundation Heart Hero award 2020 and was a finalist in the My Healthcare Hero category.
  • Justin continued throughout the pandemic working as a Paramedic.
British Heart Foundation Heart Hero award 2020

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2021

  • In June 2021, the British Heart Foundation announced that the Heartstart programme would be closed and all groups around the UK were given just 28 days’ notice.
  • The Heartstart course which had been running face to face for over 20 years would be replaced by an online video and the public would be required to teach themselves using the video how to perform CPR, how to help someone who is choking, how to manage bleeding and place someone in the recovery position.
  • Justin is passionate about inclusion and believes lifesaving skills should be taught face to face with the guidance of an experienced teacher.
  • Justin decided to form a new group and pursue charity status with the name Hearts for Herts.

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2022

  • Thanks to the help and support from Hertfordshire Community Foundation, Justin was joined by trustees Sue and Ellie and after a lengthy process, Hearts for Herts officially became a registered charity with the Charity Commission.
Hearts for Herts Logo

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2023

  • From 2017 to 2023, Justin trained 702 adults and young people in lifesaving skills and fundraised £4300 for the British Heart Foundation.
  • Ellie (trustee) moved to the US and Cally joined us as our new trustee.
  • The ethos of the new charity is to continue the legacy of the original Heartstart programme and with our new autonomy as a charity, an updated syllabus has been created for the new Heartstart Lifesaver programme and the championing for public access defibrillators and public access control the bleed kits across Hertfordshire.
  • 2023 has been a busy year and we are preparing for the big launch in autumn.

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