15 November 2019

Shoreham Port has funded a new life saving defibrillator for local homelessness charity, Emmaus. As a Trust Port, the Port strives to support their stakeholders and give back to the local community that it serves, often providing time, resources, and in some cases, financial help, to organisations that align with their corporate social responsibility aims. 

Emmaus is a charity that supports people experiencing homelessness and social exclusion, allowing them to work their way out of difficulties, providing meaningful work, training, support and a stable home for as long as they need support. The organisation runs income-generating activities at a local level - mainly involving collecting second-hand furniture and other goods. Most of their income comes from selling these recycled goods.

The Port is committed to making the land surrounding it as safe as possible, for the benefit of its stakeholders. By funding a new defibrillator, which will be based in the Emmaus By The Sea building on Station Road in Southwick, they will increase the total number of defibrillators to ten across the footprint of the Port.

According to St Johns Ambulance, seven out of ten people who suffer a cardiac arrest could survive if they were treated with a defibrillator within the first five minutes, but more than half of Britons (53%) have no idea where their nearest life-saving equipment is.

Paul Johnson, Director of Compliance at Shoreham Port has been offering his expertise as a health and safety volunteer for Emmaus. Paul commented “Over the past few years we have established a unique and close relationship with Emmaus and we have worked extremely hard to enhance their First Aid training and facilities.’’

Paul continued, “It’s been an absolute pleasure to see this level of first aid increase throughout the organisation and the benefits and confidence this gives will certainly comfort companions, staff and members of the public. We have also been able to utilise spare spaces on our first aid courses, by extending them to Emmaus staff. This helps them obtain a first aid qualification and develop vital life-saving skills.’’

Chris Chapman, a former Emmaus resident then van driver and Transport co-coordinator for the charity has taken part in a cycle ride to fundraise for a second defibrillator for the charity. The cycle ride covered 110 miles over two days from Brighton to Rouen, France.

Chris now works for St Mungos helping homeless people find accommodation. He commented “Emmaus will always mean so much to me, it gave me back my life. They saw something in me that I had lost through 18 years of addiction, and slowly gave me the space to rebuild my life.  I am now very happily married have a really good worthwhile job, wonderful relationship with my family and feel very lucky to have the life I have.’’

You can find out more about defibrillator and CPR first aid training courses on the St John Ambulance website. Or watch this video from the British Hearts Foundation about the four steps to take if someone is having a cardiac arrest. To find out how you can support Emmaus charity, visit their website here.

Category: Community