In a bid to provide lifesaving protection for its hundreds of team members, Panther Logistics has installed defibrillators at all its depots.
To ensure essential lifesaving first aid can be immediately administered at all its UK sites during a medical emergency, Panther Logistics has invested in defibrillator devices and specialist staff training at all its depots.
Crucially, the defibrillators will also be made available to emergency first responders and ambulance crews operating within every depot’s vicinity, should medics need access to them to help save a patient’s life.
Panther’s lifesaving initiative was inspired by the experience of a father of three and successful businessman who collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest while at a football session with friends.
Tony Entwistle was ‘dead’ for minutes during the medical emergency at his football session at GOALS in Northampton. He was brought back to life by the rapid response of GOALS General Manager Elliott Holmes, who was on site when Tony collapsed and used the facility’s defibrillator to restart Tony’s heart. Elliott was assisted by former fireman, Ryan Grant, who happened to be playing on a pitch nearby and attended the medical emergency to administer critical CPR.
Hearing about Tony’s experience, and how having immediate access to a defibrillator saved his life, inspired Panther Logistics to invest in installing the critical care devices at all the company’s depots nationwide.
Panther Logistics Sales Director, Samuel Scott, a longstanding friend of Elliott, said:
“When Elliott told me and our Managing Director Gary McKelvey how he had been able to help save Tony’s life by using a defibrillator we knew immediately we had to have the devices in situ at all our sites.”
Tony, co-owner of Fed3 Projects, a construction project management consultancy based in Northampton, recalled how on the pitch he had experienced a ‘massive dizzy spell’ and his legs had buckled beneath him before he collapsed.
He said:
“I was actually dead. Thankfully Elliott was working that day and when he and Ryan quickly realised CPR wasn’t restarting my heart Elliott, who had previously had training, knew it was time to use the defibrillator. Having I’d officially been dead for a number of minutes, Elliott managed to restart my heart using the device and they continued CPR until the ambulance crew arrived.
“Having heard about my personal story I think it is fantastic that Panther has installed defibrillators at all of the company’s depots. More than 30,000 people in the UK suffer cardiac arrests every year and if you are not near a defibrillator your chances of survival are tiny, I was lucky, I was in the right place at the right time.”
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