Liverpool charity, The Oliver King Foundation was set up in the name of 12 year old, Oliver King who sadly passed away from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS). The charity is run by Oliver’s father, Martin King. The aim of the foundation is to raise awareness of the medical condition.

SADS

SADS commonly affects people aged between 12-35, you might remember footballer, Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton centre midfielder who was hit with SADS during a match against Tottenham and famously saved after quick action from doctors, and many shocks with a defibrillator.

It is the Oliver King Foundation’s wish that the freely available preventative action be taken to stop SADS hurting anymore families. They strive to make sure that schools primarily benefit  and get equipment like defibrillators to help young people who could be affected by SADS.

The Government recognises that 12 young people die every week from SADS, though it is believed that the real figure is higher at 16-19, as many cases of SADS are misdiagnosed for the lack of signs that it leaves.

The foundation hope they will soon spread from Liverpool and become North West wide.

Oliver King Foundation

Knowsley Council recently gave the foundation £70,000 to put a defibrillator in every school in the area, and to train 12 staff in every school.

Money that the charity receives will mainly go to raising awareness, buying equipment for schools and local sports centres, and giving relevant training for the equipment, and also paying for screenings to make sure people are healthy.

Saving Lives

For a good outcome in any kind of heart attack, medical assistance, such as CPR or a defibrillation must be performed within 4-5 minutes. Every minute without it their chances of survival drop by 10%. If Defibrillation is performed quickly, patients have a 75% chance of surviving the attack.

SADS can occur anywhere and at anytime, and it can happen in someone who has never shown symptoms before. It’s imperative that more be done to stop a preventable killer. Readily available defibrillators in every school could save hundreds of lives.

Openhouse are a vendor of defibrillators, come and see our wide selection of defibrillators.