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Trust Board refresh life-saving skills
Press release - 4 March 2010
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SECAmb) Board
members supported this year’s National Heart Month by refreshing
their life-saving Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) skills.
National Heart Month ran throughout February and is an annual
campaign organised by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to
increase awareness and raise funds for heart and circulatory
disease.
While some members of SECAmb’s Board are trained as front-line
paramedics, including Chief Executive Paul Sutton, the refresher
training, provided by SECAmb Community Resuscitation Development
Officer Mike Dadd, equipped non-clinical Board members with the
vital skills needed in the event of a life-threatening emergency,
including the use of a public access defibrillator.
Mike is one of 21 trainers working across the country as part of
the BHF’s Heartstart scheme – an initiative which aims to teach as
many people as possible, through schools, community groups and
workplaces the simple skills needed in a life-threatening
emergency.
Board members to benefit from the refresher training included
Chairman Martin Kitchen, non-executive directors, Nigel Penny,
Christine Barwell and John Jackson and advisor to the Board, Tim
Howe.
John Jackson said: “I’ve been given resuscitation training
before but it was some time ago and the refresher training was very
useful. It’s an extremely important life skill. You never know when
someone is going to need it.”
Tim Howe said: “I’ve seen CPR work many times through my
involvement with the Red Cross. It is essential that more people
are taught how to perform it.”
SECAmb Chairman Martin Kitchen added: “We want all our board
members to become familiar with modern CPR techniques and
defibrillators. I feel it’s particularly important that children
are taught CPR because they’ll remember these skills later in
life.”
