Footballers get a lifesaving boost
A community football club in Johnstone has received a defibrillator as part of a new scheme dedicated to helping save lives.
Thorn Athletic are one of 12 clubs in Scotland to be handed the lifesaving equipment after the Scottish Football Partnership Trust teamed up with the Kilpatrick Fraser Charitable Trust to distribute them around the country.
Thorn Athletic chairman Mark McGee believes the defibrillator will help safeguard the lives of nearly 1,000 people who use their new Sports Academy.
He explained: “At present our club has around 300 members who regularly visit our facility, which hosts a variety of football activity including training and league and cup matches which our various teams compete in on many levels.
“When you add on family members and other casual users, we have a regular weekly footfall of over 900 members of our community which this scheme will help to protect should the need ever arise.
“We are grateful to the SFP Trust and the KFCT for supporting our club and our community.”
Thorn Athletic have just recently launched their Academy after taking over the former McMaster Centre.
All existing user groups are continuing to benefit from the facility, which had most recently been operating as Johnstone Community Sports Complex, and the two sessional staff members are remaining in post.
The Bri t i s h Hea r t Foundation (BHF) believe having defibrilators in key community venues is vital to saving as many lives as possible from heart attacks.
A BHF spokesperson said: “Communities can play a big part in creating a nation of life savers.
“Having a defibrillator in your community and training people in CPR means that more people will know what to do when someone has a cardiac arrest
“For every minut e someone is in cardiac arrest without CPR and access to a defibrillator, their chances of survival drops by up to 10 per cent.
“Having access to a defibrillator in an emergency can be lifesaving, especially in rural areas where ambulance response times may be longer.”
Since 2012, The Scottish Football Partnership and Trust has invested over £ 200,000 in upskilling a round 2,250 coach volunteers in Sports First Aid in conjunction with the Hampden Sports Clinic.