Saturday 29 September 2012, UK: World Heart Day, Arrhythmia Alliance and Bolton Wanderers Football Club today announce a season-long partnership dedicated to preventing deaths from sudden cardiac arrest and other heart rhythm disorders.

Trudie Lobban MBE, Founder and CEO of Arrhythmia Alliance, commented “Arrhythmia Alliance was delighted to be approached by the Club to be its national charity partner for the 2012/13 season.  What happened to Fabrice Muamba last season put the deadly potential of heart rhythm disorders under a national spotlight.  Fabrice was extremely fortunate to benefit from immediate medical assistance of the highest calibre, and was still very lucky to survive.  Each year in the UK, 100,000 people are not so lucky.

“We are honoured to have formed this partnership with Bolton Wanderers, and believe that it provides an extremely valuable and exciting opportunity to increase the public understanding of heart rhythm disorders.  We look forward to campaigning with Fabrice and the Club to reduce the number of lives claimed each year by sudden cardiac death.”

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) a heart rhythm disorder is the UK’s biggest killer.  One of the key elements of the partnership will be a nationwide campaign to reduce the 100,000 deaths from SCA.  The club look forward to announcing more details and additional partners when the campaign is launched next month.

·       Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) kills 100,000 people in the country every year

·       SCA is the UK’s biggest killer

·       SCA kills more than twice as many people each year than vascular heart attacks

·       The UK treats fewer patients at risk of SCA than almost all other European nations

·       The chance of SCA survival when CPR is administered is 5%

·       CPR with an AED (automated external defibrillator) increases the survival of SCA to 50%

Trudie Lobban MBE concluded “AEDs could prevent tens of thousands of deaths in the UK alone.  Yet, so many public spaces in the country are without these life-saving devices, and members of the public frequently don’t know where to find them, or how easy they are to use.  These factors are symptomatic of government policy that is in need of greater focus on the UK’s biggest killer.

“During this partnership with Bolton we will highlight the dangers of sudden cardiac arrest, and how to reduce them through increased government focus, effective first aid training and the widespread placement of an easy-to-use AEDs”

For more information about AEDs and where to find them, please visit www.aedlocator.org

Read our press release here

Read the statement from Bolton FC here