Justin Honey-Jones, who is the chair and community trainer at Hearts For Herts, who create awareness and advancement of health and saving of lives for the public benefit in Hertfordshire, by:

• Providing inclusive training and education on lifesaving CPR and defibrillator skills
• Increasing the number of defibrillators in the community
• Advancing the inclusive education of the public in the subject of serious bleeding
• Equipping communities with public access bleed control kits which in the event of such an incident, may buy valuable time before the arrival of the ambulance service.

In 2017, Justin launched the community group as Heartstart East Hertfordshire in Hertford Heath, affiliated to the British Heart Foundation. Justin was inspired to set up the group after attending a 999 call as a Paramedic in a public place which had a defibrillator, but the public were afraid to use it and no one was trained to perform CPR.

The focus of the group was the delivery of the British Heart Foundations 2 hour Heartstart course free of charge, to raise awareness of the importance of learning lifesaving skills in the community and to fundraise.

In June 2021, the British Heart Foundation announced that the Heartstart programme would be closed and all groups around the UK were given just 28 days’ notice. Justin is passionate about inclusion and believes lifesaving skills should be taught face to face with the guidance of an experienced teacher. Justin decided to form a new group and pursue charity status with the name Hearts for Herts.

The ethos of the new charity was to continue the legacy of the original Heartstart programme and with a new autonomy as a charity, an updated syllabus has been created for the new Heartstart Lifesaver programme and the championing for public access defibrillators and public access control the bleed kits across Hertfordshire.

From 2017 to 2023, Justin trained 702 adults and young people in lifesaving skills and fundraised £4300 for the British Heart Foundation.

This donation from defibshop has already cemented Justin's goal for 2024 by fundraising and installing 5 public access defibrillators with public access bleed control kits for the Hertfordshire area.

We are delighted to support Justin and Hearts For Herts with all their defibrillator supplies and knowledge needs.

To follow and support Justin and Hearts For Herts and - click here