The Heartbeat of Sport team visited Blackley Cricket Club near the town of Elland recently to present them with their brand new defibrillator that they have acquired for use on their premises.
The club got in contact with Heartbeat after raising the issue of not having a defibrillator at one of the clubs committee meetings. They have upwards of sixty playing members at their club as well as a big social scene. Playing members’ age groups range from under 9’s all the way through to upwards of fifty year olds, so the committee decided that it was a sensible idea to have this piece of equipment on site should an incident ever occur.
They stressed the importance of having a portable handheld defibrillator as their premises cover a big playing surface and grounds around the clubhouse and the club also wanted to utilise the possibility of taking the defib with them to away games should there be no game being played at Blackley on the same day.
Following the delivery of their AED, the club has also booked five of their club members onto a training course, where they will be shown how to effectively deal with and react to any situation that may happen in future. Once those people have been trained, the club stated that they would be looking towards their team captains and senior members of the club to expand on the amount of people who are trained and confident to use a defibrillator to save some bodies life.
Speaking from the Blackley clubhouse last week, Steve Pollard said:
“It’s great that we have now got the defibrillator and can showcase it proudly for everybody to see in the clubhouse. It was really a duty of care issue we have to all of the people who make up this cricket club. We have great first aid awareness and this was a way to expand on that and make the place a lot safer for everybody.
Obviously, we hope it never gets used and remains as a visual reminder that we are prepared should anything happen. But as a precaution, we will be looking for everybody in the club to know what this piece of equipment does and that there are people on site who can use it safely and effectively.”
The defibrillator has actually been donated to Blackley cricket club by long serving member Mark Fox. Mark and his son Freddie have been members at the club for over twelve years and Marks Company, Kirkgate Engineering, has kindly offered to pay for the defibrillator to support the club.
Tragically, Mark lost his mother to cardiac arrest recently whilst she was holidaying in Germany, so Mark and his family truly understand the importance of this kind of equipment which highlights the relevance of his donation.
