FIFA have launched an historic partnership with the Heartbeat of Football (HOF) charity for the Women’s World Cup, with a booth set up at one of the tournament’s FIFA Fan Festivals to promote heart health.
The booth will be open for the duration of the tournament at the Sydney/Gadigal site wherein fans of all ages can receive a free check-up and critical first aid training in how to respond to someone suffering a cardiac arrest.
HOF CEO and founder Andy Paschalidis admitted his great excitement for this “historic” endeavour that gives them a chance to showcase what the charity is about to the world.
“We are the first non-commercial partner to engage at any live site for FIFA. We’ve had wonderful support from Novartis and the Heart Foundation to help fund us. This is not a cheap exercise. We’re going to give the best possible testing model that can be utilised anywhere in the world in a football environment and live site,” Mr Paschalidis told Neos Kosmos.
The charity will have one of its testing activations at the live site, where they quickly and efficiently test people’s cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar in three-five minutes, all as part of their goal to help identify any risks of cardiovascular disease.
“FIFA sees our model as unique and, for me, I think it’s so important that we share what we’re doing here with the rest of the footballing world.”
“In Australia, we would love to have Heartbeat of Football activations in every capital city and then the country areas which are really haemorrhaging when it comes to health. When you put all the governments together (including federal), they are spending over $200 billion a year on health, only 1.5% of that is preventative. It has to change.”
The charity’s founder stated this has been months in the making, though he did stress that contact with FIFA goes as far back as November 2017.
“FIFA has got a sub-cardiac registry unit which they started in 2014. What they do is check all the cardiac incidents globally in football. They reached out to me at the end of 2017 to get some data which I then provided them and they said it was amongst the best in the world, along with another charity in Italy,” he said.
Heartbeat of Football have been updating them ever since and Mr Paschalidis, with the help of Gary Moretti (Head of Competition Management at FIFA), has forged a stronger connection with FIFA Medical, including its head, Dr Andrew Massey.
“We will be open at the live site every day that it’s open…We hope this model can be replicated globally. It would be an outstanding legacy for this journey that our charity has undertaken,” the HOF CEO told Neos Kosmos.
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Heartbeat of Football launched in 2016 and has, as part of its mission, spoken on the necessity for all clubs to have access to defibrillators and people with CPR training to respond to any cardiac arrests that take place on the field.
Thus far, they have relied mostly off the financial help of certain individuals and organisations, one being Socceroo icon Tim Cahill, who is also their Global Ambassador.
“To be frank, the only form of government funding we’ve ever received was last year from Victoria to start our testing model there. We’ve just come back from Victoria on the weekend and we had 12 testing activations in 16 days.”
During this trip in Victoria, Mr Paschalidis tested South Melbourne Hellas legend Alan Davidson and unfortunately, one of his teammates in the over 55s league suffered a heart attack that same weekend.
“He is recovering but the saddest part was that the defibrillator was locked away. There’s no excuse for that and this is one of the next steps I want to discuss with FIFA Medical: make it mandatory that all clubs have a) defibrillators and b) that they are accessible on matchdays and training sessions.”
Mr Paschalidis confirmed that this was the 17th player saved in the last 21 cardiac incidents in Australia this year, a vast improvement to the three out of 18 people saved in 2014 when he first started this type of work.
“The message is getting out. Clubs are getting defibrillators. People are getting the training and confidence to perform CPR and that can be the difference between life and death. You cannot wait for an ambulance in a cardiac arrest incident. You have to apply CPR straight away,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we should all come home to our families after playing our beloved football or any sport for that matter.”
The charity goes around to various events around the country to spread its message and guidance, though Mr Paschalidis has urged for further support.
“We’re out there trying to spread the love but as with everything in life, we need vitamin m: money. I met with Steve Kamper (the NSW Minister for Multiculturalism and Sport) recently and he does want to help us,” he said.
“There is a state budget coming up in September and one thing I’ve learnt as a proud Greek-Australian of Pontian and Peloponnesian background is the gift of giving. It’s instilled in us by our parents that came here with nothing. The spirit of filotimo is in our DNA.”
Mr Paschalidis mentioned that Heartbeat of Football is also the charity of choice for the Australian Masters Games later this year in Adelaide which is another promising development for them.
“People know me for commentating, presenting and all that but, to me, I think this is my legacy in football. To make the game as safe as it can be, to ensure that loved ones have access to lifesaving devices and know what to do in a life-threatening situation,” he said.
