Heart and circulatory conditions can often go undiagnosed for too long. They often aren’t discovered until something goes wrong, or it becomes too late.
Ahead of World Heart Day tomorrow, we’re absolutely thrilled to be announced as the new national charity partner for the Rangers Charity Foundation. This is a huge opportunity to work with the club, and this partnership will help give us the opportunity to reach tens of thousands of people across Scotland and train football fans in lifesaving CPR.
The partnership, which will last for the length of the 2023/24 season, will help raise awareness of heart and circulatory diseases among the footballing community. Heart and circulatory diseases are some of the nation’s biggest killers. In Scotland, they are estimated to affect around 700,000 people, and cause 50 deaths a day. But despite the scale of these figures, many people across the country severely underestimate the seriousness of them.
As part of our latest Spotlight On campaign, we carried out a survey to find out what people’s knowledge is around heart health. It found that while it’s estimated that around half of people in this country will get a heart or circulatory condition during our lifetime, more than a quarter (27 per cent) of those surveyed in Scotland thought the likelihood of them developing a heart condition was just 1 in 10, while over a fifth (22%) thought the chance was just 1 in 50. Only three per cent of respondents knew the correct answer - which is 1 in 2. Worryingly, we have also found that many people are confused about the seriousness of a heart attack and cardiac arrest. While both are life-threatening emergencies that require immediate medical treatment, only 79% of Scots would call 999 for an ambulance if they thought a person was having a heart attack, while only 60% of people considered a cardiac arrest a medical emergency. That’s why, through our latest partnership with Rangers Charity Foundation, we also have the ambition to train at least 50,000 people – the capacity of Ibrox Stadium – to learn lifesaving CPR through our free online tool, RevivR.
RevivR allows people to learn CPR in just 15 minutes and aims to give people the skills and confidence to save a life. It teaches people how to recognise a cardiac arrest, gives feedback on chest compressions and outlines the correct steps in using a defibrillator. All people need is a mobile phone and a firm cushion. We’ll be sharing QR codes for RevivR throughout Ibrox stadium to encourage fans to learn this vital skill and also working with players to help give them the confidence to administer CPR.
This is such an exciting time for BHF Scotland and the Rangers Charity Foundation and together we’re looking forward to help educate, raise awareness and shine a spotlight on heart and circulatory diseases across the country.
David McColgan is Head of British Heart Foundation Scotland
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