By Tim Hodges
The Albion have launched a partnership with the Sussex Heart Charity.
The charity, chaired by eminent heart surgeon Andrew Cohen, has placed eight defibrillators around the Amex Stadium, and will train ground staff how to use these units and familiarise themselves with procedures required to deal with cardiac arrest, such as CPR and mouth to mouth.
The defibrillation units are easy to use and instruct the operator on how to assist the patient.
Albion’s head of operation’s Richard Hebbard said that one of the units had already been used to attend to an Albion fan at the very first game of the season against Doncaster, and had been hugely effective, and is likely to have kept the person in question alive.
The charity, which was set up 1987, is based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Eastern Road, Brighton, and relies on legacies and donations to continue its work.
Mr Cohen said that it has an annual sponsored walk in May, from the peace statue in Hove to Brighton Marina and back, and is also supported by the Brightonia Charity Riders, one of the biggest motorcycle events on the south coast.
Mr Cohen went on to say how honoured and proud the charity was to be associated with the Seagulls at the Amex, which has one of the largest accumulation of people anywhere in Sussex on a match day.