South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS
Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is inviting schools and community groups
to register their interest in this year’s Restart a Heart – a CPR
awareness campaign.
SECAmb took part in the Europe-wide initiative for the first
time last year when staff and volunteers trained close to 8,500
children and some adults in CPR during a week in October.
The Trust is now keen to hear from schools and community groups
aged Year 6 and upwards interested in taking part this year. The
training will once again predominately take place across one week –
10-16 October.
SECAmb is also inviting trained healthcare professionals to make
contact with its organisers if they are interested in helping
deliver the 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 are significantly
improved.
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 with the success of our involvement in Restart a Heart
for the first time in 2016 and we’re looking to build on it this
year.
“We’re continuing to focus our efforts on schools and community
groups as by giving young people the confidence in how to act
quickly and perform CPR, they can take this skill with them
throughout their lives.
“The numbers we trained last year far exceeded our expectations.
It was incredible and everyone embraced their new skills with
enormous enthusiasm.”
Anyone interested in finding out more for their school or group
should email restartaheart@secamb.nhs.uk
or contact their local Community First Responder group.