Having successfully raised over £21,000 for Plan International in 2016, this year staff at Emerald Group has pledged to raise £50,000 for Heart Research UK in 2017, the year in which both the charity and Emerald celebrate their respective 50th anniversaries.
Founded in 1967 by heart surgeon David Watson, Heart Research UK is the second largest heart charity in the UK, funding pioneering medical research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease, as well as helping communities improve their lifestyles with healthy hearts grants.
Emerald – also founded in 1967 – holds a special place in our minds for Heart Research UK due to former Emerald Chairman Martin Fojt’s sudden and unexpected passing from a heart attack in 2014.
The money raised by Emerald Group throughout this year, will go to help the Novel and Emerging Technologies grant. This research project, which is being undertaken at The University of Leicester, aims to develop a simple, accurate and cost-effective test to predict which patients are at risk of sudden cardiac death and whose lives could be saved with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.
Jodie Thomson, Corporate Development at Heart Research UK said: “Sudden cardiac death is responsible for over 3 million deaths per year, worldwide – deaths that could be prevented with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). The Novel and Emerging Technologies study will recruit 440 patients from 11 leading specialist cardiac centres in the UK. It is hoped that the new technology tested can be applied in future studies to other groups for which there is no tool to assess sudden cardiac death risk.
“The money Emerald Group raises throughout the course of the year will go a long way towards helping The University of Leicester fund the grant for the completion of this project, which aims to identify people at risk of sudden cardiac death.”
Sara Price, Charity Committee Chair said: “As both Emerald and Heart Research UK celebrate their 50th anniversaries this year, we set ourselves a big target of raising £50,000!
“Emerald’s Charity Committee is confident that, with the support of our colleagues based around the world, we’ll meet this target and provide Heart Research UK with much-needed funds.”
More details about the Novel and Emerging Technologies project and Emerald Group’s charitable initiatives, can be found here: http://www.emeraldat50.com/charity/
If you would like to support Emerald to meet this £50,000 target, you can do so by donating here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Emerald-50th
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