Council Pledges to be a Heart City

November 5, 2015

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council is supporting the British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland (BHF) as an official Heart City. 

Councillor Margaret Tolerton, is the Chairperson of a recently established Working Group, which includes the BHF, local charity NI Defibs for Kids, Cardiac Survivor, and local resident, Linda Donaldson and Council Officers. 

The Group is currently looking at ways to raise awareness and funds for the BHF. As this November is the 50th anniversary of the mobile defibrillator, to mark this, the Council is organising mobile defibrillator training for 50 members of staff based at the Dundonald International Ice Bowl.

Councillor Tolerton said: “Through a variety of initiatives we hope to contribute towards the vital work of the British Heart Foundation. We also want to encourage the local community to be healthy-heart aware.

“The inventor of the life-saving defibrillator, Professor Frank Pantridge, was a world-renowned cardiologist.  The Professor was a resident from Hillsborough and devoted his career to this pioneering work.  The portable defibrillator has saved thousands of lives and it is in memory of the Professor’s ground-breaking work that our involvement with the BHF is especially significant.”

It is the 100th Anniversary of Professor Pantridge’s birth next year.  A bronze sculpture sits at Lagan Valley Island as a permanent reminder of the Professor’s contribution to medical science.  The Group will look to mark this anniversary in honour of the Professor’s contribution to modern science.