Halesowen business owner and mother of two from Birmingham, Emily Fereday, was devastated to hear of yet another young life lost because of knife crime in Birmingham. Since the death of 14-year-old Leo Ross’ death in January, Emily has already raised enough money to donate 23 emergency bleed control kits to local schools and is urging other businesses to do the same.
“I know schools don’t have spare money and the government doesn’t provide bleed control kits to schools like they do defibrillators”, Emily commented. “Schools are central to communities and are crucial to changing young people’s mindsets. I think we all need to ask ourselves if we’d want a bleed control kit to hand if it was our child or grandchild who was hurt, whether that’s from a knife, and accident in school or at home or if they were hit by a car running out of the gates.”
Emily contacted The Daniel Baird Foundation with her offer of support and appealed to the followers of her personalised gift business, Fereday & Co for donations.
In just over a month over £2,500 has been donated via Fereday & Co and funds continue to pour in, as Emily explains: “I wasn’t expecting so much money so quickly, so thank you to all of my customers who didn’t hesitate to donate and even my local Tesco. It’s clearly not just me who was deeply moved by the stabbing of Leo Ross in Birmingham – lots of people feel like they must try and do something. We can’t keep having children murdered on our streets and on public transport.”
The Daniel Baird Foundation was established after Daniel Baird was stabbed and murdered in Digbeth in 2017. It worked with the West Midlands Ambulance Service to create the original bleed control kits, which Turtle Medical produce.
Lynne Baird, founder of The Daniel Baird Foundation, added: “I’m overwhelmed by Emily’s energy and determination to support our campaign. The amazing response has made her want to keep going until every school has a lifesaving bleed control kit and every pupil knows what to do if they are faced with a severe bleed injury to treat. I’d like to encourage businesses to have a collection pot at their till, select The Daniel Baird Foundation their charity of the year or even make a one-off donation of £85 which will mean we can send a kit to a local school.”
Emily, also a trained teaching assistant, has always been passionate about safeguarding children. With two secondary school-aged sons and an increase in incidents, she felt compelled to take action. “I have 11 and 13-year-old boys and this is my biggest fear”, she continued. “I’ve explained to them that if they ever carry a knife, they are choosing to potentially hurt someone, and I show them the news. Young people need to understand the devastating effects of carrying a knife.
“The story of Daniel Baird and being hands on with an emergency bleed control kit is a big part of building awareness with young people. Apart from raising money to place the kits in schools, I’d like to volunteer to lead educational assemblies about emergency medical equipment and the reason they were created.”
Those who wish to donate to Emily’s campaign or have one of her collection jars at their business premises can contact her via the Fereday & Co Facebook page or on emilyfereday89@gmail.com. Schools can also contact Emily or The Daniel Baird Foundation if they would like to arrange a guest assembly on bleed control kits.
The Daniel Baird Foundation bleed control kits can be purchased directly via its partner Turtle Medical or donations can be made directly to the Foundation. Locked and unlocked publicly accessible bleed cabinets, which house the medical equipment to provide 24-7 access for the whole community can also be purchased.
For more information about The Daniel Baird Foundation, visit www.controlthebleed.org.uk.
For more information about Turtle’s bleed control cabinets, defib cabinets and the equipment to place inside, please visit www.turtlemedical.co.uk.