Hartshorne's 'Healthy Heart' truck is a hit with Volvo customers!

Midlands commercial vehicle distributor launches drive to install life-saving defibrillators in the community.
Hartshorne's 'Healthy Heart' truck  is a hit with Volvo customers!
The Hartshorne FH 430 demonstrator

Hartshorne Group - the Midlands-based Volvo commercial vehicle distributor - is raising funds to provide heart defibrillators within the community.

 

The company's Healthy Heart Campaign was launched with the help of a state-of-the-art FH 460 demonstrator truck, with eye-catching bespoke livery.

 

Hartshorne Group is now partnering with West Midlands Ambulance Service about where to locate the medical devices, which can save the life of somebody experiencing a cardiac arrest.

 

The company says its Healthy Heart Campaign will also be kind to the planet by encouraging staff to walk or cycle to work in order to raise funds.  Customers can show their support by making a donation when they make use of the demonstrator truck, which has the bespoke registration plate HE03 ART.

 

"We know how important a healthy heart is, so we wanted to do something that benefits not just our staff but also the whole community. We've had some great feedback from customers who love our Healthy Heart demonstrator truck," said Hartshorne Managing Director Ian Middleton. 

 

Over 30,000 people a year in the UK suffer a cardiac arrest that takes place somewhere other than a hospital. Less than one in ten survive. Defibrillators come with voice instructions and can be used by anyone to help restart a heart in an emergency.

 

Andy Jeynes, Community Response Manager for West Midlands Ambulance Service recently visited Hartshorne Group in order to provide advice to staff.

 

Andy said: "We're delighted to be partnering with Hartshorne Group to help advise on its campaign. Defibrillators save lives, it's as simple as that."

 

Hartshorne, which supplies and services Volvo commercial vehicles will donate £1 towards community-based defibrillators for every hour of physical exercise that staff track via an app.

 

Encouraging staff to increase physical activity has the benefit of boosting their own heart health, whilst also reducing their carbon footprint.

 

Studies have shown that swapping one car journey per day for walking or cycling makes a significant impact on personal carbon emissions. The reduction in an individual's carbon footprint can be as much as 0.5 tonnes per person per year, representing a substantial share of average per capita CO2 emissions.

 

Hartshorne Group, which has its head office in Walsall, is also paying for defibrillators to be installed at all of its nine depots across the Midlands, the first of which has already been installed at its site in Erdington, Birmingham.

 

The defibrillators will all be registered for public use with The Circuit, a national defibrillator database that is used to direct 999-callers to their locations in an emergency.

 

* Ambulance chiefs say that businesses and organisations that may already have defibrillators can register them for public use via the national database by going online at www.thecircuit.uk .