Our mission - Hearts for Herts
The mission of Hearts for Herts is to:
provide an inclusive education programme of lifesaving skills and champion the provision of public access lifesaving equipment to our communities across Hertfordshire, because every heart matters
Our charitable objectives
The advancement of health and saving of lives for the public benefit in Hertfordshire, in particular but not exclusively, by:
- Providing inclusive training and education on lifesaving CPR and defibrillator skills
- Increasing the number of defibrillators in the community
- Advancing the inclusive education of the public in the subject of serious bleeding
- Equipping communities with public access bleed control kits which in the event of such an incident, may buy valuable time before the arrival of the ambulance service.
Our targets
We are committed to the following targets by the end of 2024:
- Reaching 1,000 trained people (As of July 2023 we have trained 702 people)
- Fundraising and installing 100 public access bleed control kits within public access defibrillator cabinets across Hertfordshire
- Fundraising and installing 5 public access defibrillators with public access bleed control kits
- Create a train the trainer programme to cascade the Heartstart Lifesaver programme across Hertfordshire in 2025 and beyond
- Create a Heartstart Lifesaver programme book
The chain of survival
Hearts for Herts is committed to the principles of the chain of survival and recognise in order to maximise the chances of survival following a out of hospital cardiac arrest, trained members of the public are essential in the first three to four stages.
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The UK Resuscitation Council (2023) state:
- The first link in the chain is the immediate recognition of cardiac arrest and calling for help.
- The second is the prompt initiation of CPR.
- The third is performing defibrillation as soon as possible.
- The fourth is optimal post-resuscitation care.
Like any chain, it is only as strong as its weakest link. If one stage is weak, the chances of successful resuscitation are compromised.
The Heartstart Lifesaver programme has been built with these principles in mind and the ethos of the charity is to champion these principles throughout education programme and the championing of lifesaving equipment across the county to maximise the chances of survival following a cardiac arrest.
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