Life-saving defibrillators to be installed at four grassroots football sites in Portsmouth
Stag Security Services Ltd are proud to join forces with Friends Fighting Cancer in a move that could potentially save lives.
Following some lengthy discussions with the council, defibrillators are set to be installed at four venues across Portsmouth. They will be installed at King George V in Cosham, Farlington, Paulsgrove Rec and Rugby Camp - where grassroots football matches in Portsmouth are played.
We are very proud to provide the much-needed funding for something we feel is critical to the local community and grassroots football. It's crazy to think that these devices could be the difference between life and death and are not already installed at our local public sports grounds.
For anyone unsure what a defibrillator is, they are devices that give a high energy electric shock to the heart to someone who is in cardiac arrest. The use of a defibrillator - combined with CPR is the only effective treatment for a heart attack.
The average survival rates from cardiac arrests outside of a hospital setting are less than 10%. If a defibrillator is used and CPR is carried out before an ambulance arrives, the rate improves to more than 60%.
The defibrillator scheme is the idea of FFC's Ray Ogilvie. After a severe incident at King George V last autumn, when Sunday League footballer Josh Miroy, 17, suffered a suspected heart attack.
Ray from FFC approached us with the idea, asking if we would be interested in donating £400-£500 towards the £5,000 needed for the defibrillators. It didn't take long listening to Ray to see how much these devices are required, and we told him we would donate the entire £5,000.
We know Ray has worked so hard for the local footballing community to get Portsmouth City Council to agree to install the defibrillators, and we are proud to help Friends Fighting Cancer financially with their plans to have these units installed.
We know a lot of players are going to be covered by these devices, and knowing they are there and available will benefit every single one of them.
The funding is confirmed, and we are now waiting for the units to be purchased and installed.