A Derby paramedic has been invited to the Houses of Parliament after raising awareness about deadly but undetected heart conditions in young people.
Gareth Mallon will represent East Midlands Ambulance Service at Westminster when he attends the Cardiac Risk in the Young parliamentary reception.
The 44-year-old has been interested in sudden adult death syndrome for two years, after treating a patient with a heart condition that had gone unnoticed.
He became a member of the charity, which campaigns for better heart screening, and has put together a training package for ambulance service staff.
This includes an hour-long DVD, which Mr Mallon in hoping will be launched next Wednesday – the day of the reception.
Mr Mallon, of Alvaston, attended the annual event in London last year and said he was looking forward to discussing the progress made.
He said: "Last year I was very nervous because the service hadn't been represented before I decided to go down in my uniform and it seemed to do the job because people noticed me, so hopefully they'll know me this year.
"I'm looking forward to showing all the things we have achieved and how we are trying to reduce the amount of deaths in fit, young people because of undiagnosed heart conditions."
Two days later, Mr Mallon will attend a sports cardiology conference in London.
He said: "The conference is being run by some of the top cardiologists in the world, so it should be very good and really educational."
Mr Mallon has spent the past 18 months working on the DVD for ambulance staff, which is voiced by Cardiac Risk in the Young consultant cardiologist Professor Sanjay Sharma.
He has also been working on a one-day course to help ambulance staff analyse heart-screening tests.
Mr Mallon has become a stakeholder in the National Institute for Health and Clinic Excellent guideline development process, changing some guidelines to include ambulance staff.
He said: "The section was about transient loss of consciousness and, in the end, a presentation was produced for staff about it. The guidelines were originally for people like doctors and GPs but we are the first on the scene and need to know whether someone has fainted or collapsed and why, to help diagnose and refer them. They took my comments on board, which was great."
Mr Mallon hopes to extend training to sport teams, leisure organisations and other groups to educate them on what to look for.
He said: "Every week, 12 apparently fit and healthy young people die in the UK from undiagnosed heart conditions.
"I think it's really important to show that the East Midlands Ambulance Service is one of the first in the country to try to do something about it."
