Joseph Holt pubs are always a welcoming place to enjoy a drink or tasty meal. But such venues could also become life-saving centres – thanks to a fundraising initiative by the brewery to install defibrillators on the premises too.
The regional family business has already put the life-saving devices in some of its 127 pubs across the North West, with The Fiveways in Stockport and the Half Way House in Blackpool, the first to install defibrillators . More pubs have collected enough cash through fundraising events and are just awaiting delivery of the machines
With one month left to go for the Joseph Holt`s defibrillator appeal to run, the independent brewery is appealing to kind-hearted customers to help them reach a target of £50,000 to supply devices to more pubs. Once installed, the machines are linked to The Circuit – the British Heart Foundation`s defibrillator network, which provides a nationwide overview of where the devices can be found.
Defibrillators work by delivering a shock to restart a heart after it stops beating following a cardiac arrest. Quick access to a defibrillator could be the difference between life and death according to The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. Some 30,000 people in the UK each year have a cardiac arrest out of hospital, and NHS data shows just 18.5 per cent of them survive.
If a defibrillator is used within the first vital few minutes of the heart stopping, it improves the chances of survival points out Mark Norbury, Joseph Holt pubs director. What`s more automated defibrillators are for everyone to use and require no training.
He added: “Our pubs are often placed in the heart of communities and as such are a focal point for so much more than somewhere to, say, enjoy a beer. Charity is so central to what we do. And by installing defibrillators we can help save lives which might otherwise be lost because of lack of access to these machines.”
Since 1849 charity has been part of Joseph Holt`s history, Not least with Manchester`s Christie hospital – in 1914 Sir Edward Holt raised £20,000 (£2 million in today’s money) to fund, buy equipment and premises for the newly formed Holt Radium Institute. In 1933 it relocated and joined with The Christie Hospital to become the current Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute.
Health secretary Steve Barclay recently spoke of the “extraordinary stories of ordinary people being kept alive thanks to the swift use of a defibrillator on the football pitch, at the gym or in their local community.” Having one in a local Joseph Holt pub will only increase the reach of these vital pieces of machinery.
Added Mark Norbury: “Our appeal closes at the end of March and that’s why we’re asking our generous hearted customers to support our plans to install as many defibrillators as possible. If a pub hits its individual target – these machines cost £1000 – the money collected will be redistributed to those venues who have’t raised enough in the next few weeks. We never take the generosity of our customers for granted – they have raised so much over the years. And with this appeal literally a matter of life and death, I hope that once again we can rely on our loyal supporters to help everyone.”
