A Derbyshire science company has handed over more than £18,000 to help a charity carry on saving lives.
Lubrizol, whose UK Technical Centre is based in Hazelwood, has handed over a grand total of £18,026.16 to St John Ambulance after two years of employee fundraising across all its UK sites.
Over the past two years, teams from Lubrizol have taken part in a wide range of activities to raise vital funds for St John Ambulance so it can continue to treat patients, train volunteers and provide crews for community events.
St John Ambulance is England’s first aid charity and is committed to creating healthier, safer and more resilient communities through essential first aid services and training.
Among the Lubrizol fundraisers was Claire Hollingshurst who with her husband Tim and colleague Rich Trevatt took on walking the 55-mile ‘Heritage Way’ running through Derbyshire, completing the whole trek in under 24 hours.
Staff raised further funds with many activities including cake sales and Christmas jumper days. Employees also benefited from CPR sessions delivered at three Lubrizol sites.
Thanks to fundraisers like Lubrizol and charitable donations from the public, over the past two years, over 30,000 highly skilled St John Ambulance volunteers have treated tens of thousands of patients, trained more than 30,000 Young Responders and supported communities across the country. In Derbyshire, St John Ambulance volunteers have helped in 362 cases of clinical need – which equates to roughly one person every two days.
Eva Groves, corporate partnerships executive at St John Ambulance, was at Lubrizol with Derbyshire volunteer Heather Powell to receive the donation.
She said: “Thank you so much to every single person at Lubrizol for raising such an amazing amount for St John Ambulance. All money raised will go towards helping us continue to save lives.”
It is estimated that every year in the UK there are over 30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests but currently fewer than one in 10 people survive. When a defibrillator is used in the first three minutes of a cardiac arrest, the chances of survival can increase by up to 70 per cent.
Eva continued: “A cardiac arrest is a medical emergency and, in this situation, every second counts. We’re proud that through our Restart a Heart training, Lubrizol employees now have the confidence to step in and save a life if it’s ever needed.”
Tom Grazier, chair of Lubrizol’s charities and communities committee, said: “We are delighted to have raised this great total for St John Ambulance to help continue the charity’s life-saving work.
“It’s important to us at Lubrizol to give back to the communities we serve and every two years we are very proud to nominate a new charity for all our UK sites to support. It’s been great to welcome St John Ambulance volunteers who have delivered really valuable CPR sessions for Lubrizol colleagues. This is a great charity doing important work and we know our donation of more than £18,000 has a lot of impact.”
