South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
(SECAmb) inspired local schools and children’s groups to drive
forward CPR awareness as part of the Europe-wide initiative Restart
a Heart.
The Trust achieved the amazing
results of training close to 8,500 children and some adults in 88
locations across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
By linking with the Resuscitation
Council’s European Restart a Heart Day and the British Heart
Foundation, SECAmb provided young people with the skills they need
to help save a life. The Trust had aimed to provide the training to
some 3000 children but a 74 strong team of volunteers far exceeded
these expectations.
During the week 12-18 October,
volunteers including Community First Responders, SECAmb staff, as
well as colleagues from the fire service delivered the life-saving
training.
More than 30,000 people suffer
cardiac arrests outside of hospital in the UK every year. If this
happens in front of a bystander who starts CPR immediately before
the arrival of an ambulance crew, the patient’s chances of survival
double.
Today, if someone suffers a cardiac arrest out
of hospital in the UK, they sadly have less than a one in ten
chance of surviving.
SECAmb’s Volunteer Operations Manager Emma Ray
said: “We were delighted to take part in this initiative as a Trust
for the first time. We were putting the emphasis on training young
people by giving them confidence to act quickly and now they know
how to perform CPR they can take this skill with them throughout
their life and even encourage others to follow suit.
“It is thanks to everyone who
volunteered their time that we have been able to reach out to so
many people. The numbers are just incredible and the children
embraced their new skills with enormous enthusiasm. I congratulate
each and every one of them and I am very proud of their
achievements.”