Brentford Launch New Partnership With Leading Heart Charities 

Brentford Football Club has launched a new partnership with a number of leading charities to improve heart health in the local community.

Titled Heart of West London, they will use the power of sport and its collective voice to change the game for cardiac health in west London.

In the London Borough of Hounslow, there are around 21,000 people living with heart and circulatory diseases which causes 35 deaths each month.

Heart and circulatory diseases cause around a quarter of all deaths in the UK with more than 160,000 deaths each year, or one death every three minutes​. Every five minutes someone is admitted to a UK hospital due to a heart attack.

The Heart of West London group is made up of Brentford FC, Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young, Resuscitation Council UK, Pablo London and A-K-A Day.

The group’s activity will focus on:

Awareness – getting CPR and defibrillator training to as many people as possible so everyone can learn the skills to save a life.

Exercise – getting people moving and understanding the simple changes they can make in their lives to improve their cardiac health. 

Screening – preventing young sudden cardiac deaths through additional screenings.

Research – raising money for funding innovative treatment, equipment and research into cardiac health. 

Support – supporting families affected by cardiac conditions.

Nity Raj, General Counsel at Brentford FC and Trustee of Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, said of the partnership: “At Brentford, to achieve success we have always tried to focus on the things that make the most difference, following the science and striving to make a positive impact in our community. 

“This season we are applying that approach to cardiac health by bringing an alliance of organisations together in an initiative we call The Heart of West London.

“The Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, Cardiac Risk in the Young, the Resuscitation Council, Pablo London, A-K-A Day and Brentford FC Community Sports Trust are all working with Brentford FC to use our collective power to save thousands of lives.  

“We believe we will be successful in bringing about more scientific research, more cardiac screenings, encouraging more people to make positive changes in their lives and more CPR training, and as a result we will have a massive impact on fighting the world’s leading cause of death.

“We started on a journey of supporting cardiac health following the tragic death of Technical Director, Rob Rowan in 2018. This alliance and the initiatives that are to come will serve as a lasting legacy to our friend.”

Dr Steven Cox, CEO at Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), added: “The launch of the Heart of West London partnership coincides with an important milestone for CRY – the announcement that we have now tested over 250,000 young people in the UK through our screening programme.

“As a result, more than 800 young people will have been identified with potentially life-threatening cardiac conditions and will have received treatment, lifestyle advice or corrective surgery which will have dramatically reduced their chance of suffering a cardiac arrest.

“This vital partnership will help to raise awareness of the importance of screening and young lives will be saved.”