People across the South East will take part in a worldwide
initiative this week teaching people how to save a life.

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is
working with schools and community groups on and around the annual
Restart a Heart Day today (16 October) led by the Resuscitation
Council (UK) in partnership with organisations including the
British Heart Foundation (BHF) and St John Ambulance.

SECAmb is encouraging everyone to find out more and sign up to
undertake life-saving CPR training. Further details on training are
available via the BHF website here: https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life

It is urging everyone to be willing to get involved in providing
CPR if they come across an incident as a bystander.

A recent YouGov survey has shown that ‘stranger danger’ and
busyness bias were cited as possible reasons for people not helping
someone who might have collapsed or stopped breathing in front of
them.

Just 66% of people in the South East of England would give CPR
to a stranger – compared to 85% who would help a family member and
only 3 in 5 (60%) of respondents in the South East are likely to
give CPR in a crowded location, compared to 4 in 5 (80%) if they
were the only ones around.

This year is the sixth annual Restart a Heart day. SECAmb first
took part in the initiative in 2016. Since then, working with local
partners including Kent Fire and Rescue Service, in excess of
30,000 children and adults have been received CPR training as part
of the initiative.

Every year, more than 30,000 people suffer cardiac arrests
outside of hospital in the UK where the ambulance service attempt
resuscitation. If this happens in front of a bystander, who starts
CPR immediately before the arrival of the ambulance, the patient’s
chances of survival significantly increase.

SECAmb Head of Community Engagement David Wells said: “We’re
delighted to be participating once again in this extremely
worthwhile annual initiative. Learning how to save a life is an
essential skill and I’d urge everyone to arrange to be trained. It
is a skill people can carry with them throughout their lives. By
giving people the confidence to act quickly and start performing
CPR, prior to the arrival of ambulance crews, more lives will be
saved across our region.”