Funds backing drive for life-saving kits

A grant of £10,000 has been made to fund 100 of the kits that can make the difference between life or death for people who suffer catastrophic bleeding due to accidents such as road traffic collisions, workplace incidents, impalements, dog bites, knife crime and more.

They can provide immediate assistance before emergency services arrive and the aim is to place them within the cabinets that already house Swansea's network of defibrillators.

This initiative is being led by the High Sheriff of West Glamorgan, Melanie James, and as well as the council, other organisations supporting the initiative include the charity Heartbeat Trust UK.

Swansea Council and the charity have worked together in recent years to make Swansea the UK's first Defib-friendly City, significantly boosting the network of life-saving devices across the city and county.

Council Leader Rob Stewart said: "The synergy of the High Sheriff's initiative of Critical Bleed Control Kits with Heartbeat's extensive defibrillator provision within Swansea is commendable and effectively makes these units vital trauma centres.

"The council contributed significantly towards creating this network and I'm very proud we are now supporting this initiative with £10,000 to secure 100 of these kits which will save lives."

A launch event was hosted recently by the Lord Mayor of Swansea, Paxton Hood-Williams, at the city's Mansion House.

Melanie James said: "I would like to thank everyone who attended our recent event and shares in our vision to install 'Critical Bleed Control' (CBC) kits across West Glamorgan.

"I was keen to take advantage of the opportunities that arise in my High Sheriff year to make a fundamental difference to our community by providing a comprehensive public provision of these vital and life-saving CBC kits."

Henry Gilbert, Chair of Heartbeat Trust UK, said: "Placing CBC kits in the network of defibrillator cabinets is such a simple exercise, but these kits, along with a training programme we are rolling out, will save lives across West Glamorgan".

The CBC kits include essential military-grade equipment.

The drive is also being supported by the Wales Ambulance Services Trust, South Wales Police, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and safety partnerships, many of whom were represented at the launch.

It included an informative presentation on how to use the CBC kits by St Johns Ambulance Cymru and short films detailing how the kits had been used to save lives.