The second lunch of the year and once again Chairman John Goodhead had the pleasant task of welcoming another a new member, Mike Mitchell, with a brown envelope. Keep this up John and we will be back to full strength before the end of your year.
After an excellent lunch of Pork Escalope with Leeks and White Wine Sauce with a selection of Vegetables and Cheddar Mash, followed by a Classic Chocolate Fudge Cake with Ice Cream we moved on to the presentation of our Annual Accounts for 2023 by Treasurer Phil Wilkins. Before Phil's explanation the Chairman read out a short note from our Auditor, (Chris Cuss, holidaying in the warmth), saying that try as he may, he couldn't find anything wrong with Phil's workings! The Accounts for the year showed a small surplus and Club's overall financial position remains strong. Phil expects this year to be similar, particularly if we keep adding new members.
Bill Scott then introduced this month's after lunch speaker John Salako to tell us all about Defibrillators. John is former professional footballer (Crystal Palace, Coventry, Fulham etc and five caps for England) football coach and television sports pundit for Sky TV.
John explained the need to respond quickly to someone experiencing cardiac arrest as there is only about four minutes before brain damage starts through lack of oxygen. In the UK there are 40,000 such events every year and not just to older men but to young sportsmen and women too. ( Cuddington golfers have three accessible machines around the course and club house) Although the number of defibrillators in the community is increasing many are locked and the time wasted in obtaining key-codes is life threatening. John is keen to promote the free access to the defibrillators and is part of the campaign to make Oxted in Surrey the heart safe capital of England.
Unfortunately it is not just the quick use of the defibrillator which saves lives it is also the application of CPR to get the oxygen into the blood stream as well. Regrettably in the UK the survival rate is around 7% compared to Germany and Scandinavia at around 50%. The reason for this disparity is not just the ease of access to unlocked defibrillators but the fact that the population are trained in CPR. In Germany to get a driving licence you need to pass a first aid course which includes CPR.
Thank you John for a most illuminating talk. I expected to find out how to use a defibrillator but of course they are fully automatic, just follow the instructions on the screen. Good luck in your campaign Creating Life-savers, it's a wake call to us all.
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