Your Co-op Colleagues Celebrate National Heart Month With Life-Saving Community Defibrillator

Community members and colleagues at Your Co-op Food store in Abbey Farm raised £2,300 for Community Heartbeat Trust to install a life-saving defibrillator in the Swindon-based store during National Heart Month (February).

Your Co-op has been working in partnership with Community Heartbeat Trust (CHBT), the UK’s leading provider of community defibrillator solutions, since 2013 and the partnership has seen the successful installation of 44 defibrillator units across its Your Co-op Food stores, with 10 installed last year alone.

With each new installation, Your Co-op provides instore training workshops for the local community to attend, as well as running regular free online sessions hosted by Community Heartbeat Trust with an aim to create wider awareness. Community Heartbeat Trust also trains colleagues to check the equipment once a week to make sure the defibrillators are always rescue ready and able to save lives for many years to come.  

The installation at the Abbey Farm store has only been possible through the support of Your Co-op colleagues, members and communities’ fundraising efforts, including charity fundraiser Highworth & District Lions Club who generously donated £1,000 towards the defibrillator.

The training, alongside the lifesaving defibrillators, have proven to be invaluable as they were used 30 times throughout 2023.

Tom Umney, Store Manager at Your Co-op, Abbey Farm, said: “We want to say a huge thank you to our charity fundraisers and our amazing colleagues who have made the installation of this lifesaving defibrillator possible.

We now have trained members of staff on hand who will maintain the defibrillator and make sure it is ready to serve the community.”

Adam Quinton, Your Co-op, Food Market General Manager & Ambassador for Swindon Regional Community, said: “We’re incredibly proud of the Your Co-op Food colleagues and sponsors, who have shown real enthusiasm and devotion to the cause in helping us to do good together and give back to our local community.

The work carried out by Community Heartbeat Trust is vital and will be making a lifesaving difference here in Swindon.”

Your Co-op will be hosting a virtual Community Awareness Raising Seminar (CARS) training session on Thursday 15th February, 6pm-8pm.

Run by the Community Heartbeat Trust, the session will be free for members and teach attendees what to do if someone is having a heart attack as well as how to use a community defibrillator should you need to. 

This session is limited to 100 spaces on a first-come, first-serve basis and can be booked online here.

Your Co-op Food is part of one of the largest independent UK co-operatives and is fully owned by its members. The Your Co-op family of businesses covers more than 230 Your Co-op Food stores across the West Midlands, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. They also trade nationally through its Your Co-op Travel, Your Co-op Childcare, Your Co-op Energy and Your Co-op Broadband and Mobile businesses.

Every time a member shops or chooses a service, they will also give back to the community – from buying a pint of milk to booking a holiday, we’re doing good together.

To join in and become a member, visit the Your Co-op Food Abbey Farm store or find out more here.