Two Harrogate resuscitation experts will be teaching lifesaving skills to students in Ripon and Otley as part of Restart a Heart Day on Tuesday 18 October 2016.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s Nicki West, Service Lead for Resuscitation, and Paula De Souza, Senior Resuscitation Officer, will set off to Ripon Grammar School and Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley to train pupils in the life saving skill of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) using CPR manikins provided by the British Heart Foundation.
Each student will get an opportunity to learn visually and practically on the dummies provided. The aim is to equip students with the skills to recognise a cardiac arrest, call for help and give them the confidence to at least perform CPR until the arrival of an ambulance.
Along with colleagues from Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS), which has organised the event, pupils at a total of 106 secondary schools across the county will be taught CPR – that’s more than 20,000 children in Yorkshire!
Paula said: “We are really pleased to be working with Yorkshire Ambulance Service and local schools to teach this vital, lifesaving skill.
“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 the ambulance, the patient’s chances of survival double.”
The pioneering initiative, which was developed in Yorkshire, has been rolled out nationally and even globally, with ambulance services in Australia joining in to teach this vital lifesaving skill.
The event, which is now in its third year, is organised by YAS in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation, Resuscitation Council (UK) and St John Ambulance.
In Yorkshire, there were 2,147 occasions in 2014-15 when bystanders attempted CPR which equates to 26.69% of all cardiac arrests. In 2015-16, this increased to 2,219 occasions (29.85% of all cardiac arrests).
Please use #restartaheart on Twitter if tweeting about the day.
ENDS
For further information please contact: Stephen Kelly, Communications and Marketing Assistant, [email protected] and 01423 557732.