Health-conscious employees at SR Timber attended a Heart Health session run by the British Heart Foundation, which included a demonstration of CPR, as part of its partnership with the charity.

This was to celebrate World Heart Day, with the aim of helping staff to get a better understanding of how to look after their own hearts and what to do if someone has a heart attack.

Staff practised CPR on Annie, the BHF dummy, and learned about cardiovascular disease and how to reduce the risks associated with it.

The session was organised by SR Timber’s Operations Manager Steve Hill – who has been appointed to the role of Heart Monitor within the company to coordinate its fundraising activities for the charity.

He said that the importance of heart health hit home to staff after the BHF said that in the East Midlands (where SR Timber is based) alone, around 19,249 people lose their lives to conditions including heart disease, stroke and heart failure every year.

He called the session “a real eye-opener”, and said: “We’re all very glad we took part because it made us realise that virtually everyone is touched by cardiovascular disease in some way,” said Steve.

“As well as giving us lots of information, there was a very practical side to it, and giving everyone the opportunity to practise on Annie was invaluable because CPR really can be the difference between life and death.

“The session served to help us to double our efforts in raising awareness and much-needed funds for the charity, which is the biggest independent funder of cardiovascular research in the UK.”

As part of the Heart Health session, a representative from the BHF covered some of the risk factors that increase the likelihood of getting cardiovascular disease, such as smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, physical inactivity, being overweight or obese, having diabetes or having a family history of coronary heart disease or stroke.

It also covered some of the symptoms of a heart attack, such as pain or discomfort in the chest that doesn’t go away (with the pain then spreading to the left or right arm or even to the neck and jaw), feeling sick and having a shortness of breath.

The BMF has been SR Timber’s charity partner since earlier this year.

Pictured (L-R) Richard Stone, Jason Lumley, Steve Hill, Shaun Revill and Derek Kilgariff from the BHF.