Heart Start

Rotarians Hamish Tait, Bill Whyte, John Scott, and former Rotarians Alan Constable and Kirsty Hastie have worked tirelessly to make Hart Start a real success story.  New blood is now recruited to ensure the future.

President Colin Brown welcomed guests including visitors from Corporate Member Thorntons, then presented the putting competition Keith Cup to winner Alex Clark. The speaker was Club member Hamish Tait talking about the history of Operation Heart Start. He thanked fellow members Bill Whyte, John Scott,  Alan Constable and former Rotarian Kirstie Hastie, who have worked tirelessly to make Heart Start a real success story.  Founded in 1987 in St Andrews, this was the original defibrillator charity, providing life-saving equipment and training in basic life support (CPR). In the event of cardiac arrest a defibrilator can force the heart back into action by means of an electric shock. Over the years this has saved many lives, but originally such devices were hospital-based only. In the early years a pilot project aiming to raise £30,000 to put a defibrilator in every ambulance, was set up. Local ambulance drivers pulled one of their vehicles from Leuchars to Anstruther, and other projects raised a total of £60,000. Today there are many publicly registered defibrilators -55 in our local area- which have to be regularly checked and maintained. Each one will give instructions for anyone to follow should the need arise. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) runs 'The Circuit', the national defibrilator network. Heart Start runs training courses in CPR on request in schools, clubs, and other organisations, showing members of the public what to do if someone collapses: check it is safe to approach, shake the casualty and shout to them; if no response call for help (mobile phones play a really positive part here); check for breathing and, if not present, start chest compressions continuing until medical help arrives. Everyone can learn this in 15 minutes at RevivR, an online course from the BHF. Jerry Beaulier thanked Hamish for his report on this vitally important work that he and his team do for the community.