East of England Co-op honoured for keeping local hearts safe

The East of England Co-operative Society has been named Retailer of the Year at the UK Heart Safe Awards.

The awards, which recognise employers and organisations in the UK that invest in lifesaving training and equipment, were held in Manchester on Friday 9 October at the Midland Hotel.

The East of England Co-op is based in Wherstead Park, near Ipswich. It won the award for its ‘Every Minute Counts’ campaign which has put 100 heart defibrillators at easily accessible locations across the region, such as stores and village halls.

The devices restart the heart and can save lives if accessed quickly. When activated, they have a recorded voice directing the person how to use it, so no training is necessary.

The Heart Research Institute says someone dies from a heart attack every six minutes in the UK. One in three of those people die before reaching the hospital.

But statistics show that use of a defibrillator within the first four minutes dramatically increases a person’s chance of survival.

Christian Bone, head of community services at the East of England Co-op, said: “This is a testament to our project partners, the East of England Ambulance Service and the communities who supported us in finding suitable locations and to spread the word about this potentially lifesaving equipment.”

Victoria Burrows, chief executive of Hand on Heart and organiser of the awards, added: “The standard has been extremely high and so all nominees did extremely well to be shortlisted. We are thrilled to name the East of England Co-op as Retailer of the Year. It is a fantastic achievement for the organisation and one that is very well deserved.”

You can find out more about the Every Minute Counts campaign here.