Latest news with #McCaughey
The 42
03-07-2025
- Business
- The 42
Ulster Rugby secure new naming-rights partner for Ravenhill Stadium
ULSTER RUGBY HAVE secured a new long-term naming-rights sponsorship deal for Ravenhill Stadium. Effective immediately, the home of Ulster Rugby will officially become known as Affidea Stadium (pronounced AF-fi-DAY-ah) after the northern province agreed a partnership with the European healthcare company. In a statement, Ulster said that the new partnership will provide 'a strong platform to invest in the development of players, facilities and fan experience'. Advertisement Affidea, who entered the Irish market in 2007 with the acquisition of MRI Ireland, now operates in over 16 countries and has 410 clinics across Europe. Affidea Ireland have recently expanded their footprint in the north, with plans approved for the company to open a state-of-the-art private hospital in Belfast in 2026. The new facility is set to include an orthopaedic and sports medicine centre of excellence. Ulster CEO Hugh McCaughey said that the province is 'delighted to welcome Affidea as our new stadium naming-rights partner.' 'Affidea shares our passion for high performance, our commitment to the health and wellbeing of people across the province, and our vision for the future of rugby in Ulster,' McCaughey added. 'Together, we will continue to invest in elite and grassroots rugby, and we look forward to seeing the Affidea Stadium become a beacon for sport and community pride in Ulster.' Barry Downes, CEO of Affidea UK and Ireland said: 'Affidea is thrilled to partner with Ulster Rugby, a club with rich heritage, passionate support, and a deep-rooted connection to the local community. 'This partnership represents an exciting opportunity for Affidea to further grow our presence and impact in the province of Ulster. Rugby is a game that inspires excellence, teamwork, and trust, values that align strongly with our approach to healthcare. We're proud to see our name on a stadium that also represents those ideals.' Ireland's senior women's team will play the first game at the newly branded Affidea Stadium on 9 August (. Scott Bemand's side will host Canada 48 hours before the head coach announces his squad for the Rugby World Cup.
BBC News
12-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Cyclists' life saved by Tyrone first responder volunteers after heart attack
A County Tyrone man has said he is "eternally grateful" to volunteers for saving his life, after being told there was at least a two-hour wait for an McAdam was cycling with his club on 29 December 2024 when he felt a tightness in his chest and he passed out at the side of the 54-year-old from Coalisland was having a heart Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) alerted the local Killeeshil/Galbally Community First Responders who treated him and drove him to Craigavon Area Hospital. He was subsequently blue-lighted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where he had surgery to remove a clot in his artery and a stent First Responder Schemes are made up of volunteers who live within their local community and complement the aim is to reach a potentially life-threatening emergency in the vital first few minutes before the arrival of an ambulance crew. Mr McAdam said it has been a "whirlwind journey". "I'm here and a big part of that's down to being in the first instance, out with the cycling club the Island Wheelers."If I was on my own somewhere this could have been an entirely different story."The first responders were brought in and got me where I needed to be".When he was in surgery, he said the surgeon showed him a little plastic container with the blood clot in it and told him that "when I see that 99% of people haven't made it"."That really hit home how lucky I was," he said. Ambulance service under pressure Paul McCaughey set up Killeeshil/Galbally CFRs in 2018, as an opportunity to support the local community in a rural was the first of four responders to arrive and tend to Paul McAdam. "Where Paul was at that time, we were alerted to that post code area, and it comes through to us as a SMS text message," he McCaughey was able to pinpoint Mr McAdam's location, "which is great because we know where we're going and we'll get there a lot quicker than an ambulance".He suspected Mr McAdam was having a heart attack and made the decision to take him to hospital as he did not feel Mr McAdam had two hours to wait for an ambulance."A call like that, ideally, should be roughly 20-25 minutes, but in a real world it's not happening because it's [the service is] under so much pressure."Mr McCaughey said what happened to Mr McAdam shows the strain on the health service that they rely on volunteers and communities to do this. Chances of survival There are 22 Community First Responder schemes across Northern Ireland, primarily in rural areas, with a further two in training, and more than 400 Allen, NIAS community resuscitation team manager, said the vital work that CFRs do in their own communities can be "the difference between life and death" and they provide "an essential backup for the ambulance service"."If we refer to the community resuscitation strategy for Northern Ireland where the aim of that is to increase survival for patients in 'out-of-hospital' cardiac arrest, the ambulance service response time target is about eight minutes."Potentially that will be eight minutes with no intervention from anyone other than CFRs, who may well turn up."With every minute that passes without CPR or AED (Automated External Defibrillator) intervention, your chances of survival can drop by 10%."The stark reality of that is when an ambulance arrives, you could be down to a 20% survival chance without CPR and AED through CFR group," he said. Mr McAdam said he is "still emotional" about what happened but said the Killeeshil/Galbally CFRs had saved him."To know that there's somebody there can step in and help out the ambulance service whenever they're under too much pressure can only be a good thing," he said."It's a massive thing that people are prepared to give up their time and no funding and [are] still going out and saving people's lives." What are community first responders? CFRs are alerted to incidents that are considered to be potentially life-threatening medical emergencies, including:people in cardiac arrest—unconscious and not breathingpeople with chest pain who may be having a heart attackthose who are chokingthose who are unconscious for an unknown reason but are breathing normallypeople who are potentially suffering from a do not attend calls where the patient is under 12 years old, trauma-related incidents such as road crashes, calls involving alcohol drugs or potential violence or incidents where the patient is suffering mental health issues.
