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The brother of Belfast footballing legend George Best is bringing life-saving training to Ireland north and south after suffering a near-death experience.
Ian Best had between a 1% to 3% chance of surviving the cardiac arrest which struck him down while on holiday in Blackpool.
But luckily, an employee of the hotel he was staying in at the time had, that very day, completed specialist training on the use of defibrillators - and he was saved.
Now the 46-year-old man is offering that life-saving training throughout the UK and Ireland to give people the vital lifeline which got him quickly back on his feet despite such slim odds.
Mr Best, who now lives in Torbay in the south of England, said he believes his new business, Best for First Aid and AED (Automated External Defibrillators) Training, is providing a vital service that is much needed.
"More people die from cardiac arrest than they do as a result of fires," he said.
"You have to have fire extinguishers in workplaces but no AEDs - yet people have between a 1-3% chance of surviving a cardiac arrest.
"And it is absolutely frightening to realise that five to six children die from cardiac arrest every week in the UK.
"It affects children a lot more than people think."
He said recent campaigns to introduce AEDs to schools had resulted in a number of them being installed in his home town of Torbay.
But that needs to be rolled out to more schools, more businesses and public places to save more lives, he believes.
"Nearly every hotel in Belfast will tell you they've had someone collapse in them from a heart attack or cardiac arrest," he said.
"One of the hotels down here has 30 members of staff trained in First Aid and I have trained all 30 of them in AEDs so every one of them can use them," he said. Training, he stresses, is simple and quick and, though not new to Northern Ireland, he believes more people could be trained in the fundamentals of AED.
"The AED course itself is only four hours long and you can be fully trained on the day."
Mr Best is keen to expand his business here and throughout the rest of Ireland.
"I intend to come across every couple of months, staying a week or so at a time for the full AED training and for First Aid at work training."
All training conforms to current Resuscitation Council (UK) guidelines and is also Health and Safety Executive approved.
Full AED training can be done for £71 including Vat with discounts available for groups.
For further information, go online and visit the company's website at firstaideadtraining.co.uk.
