Free CPR training session

Volunteers from charity St John Scotland are to offer a free CPR training session at Perth North Church on Saturday, August 18.

The training is being provided as part of the Save a Life for Scotland project, which aims to teach 500,000 Scots bystander CPR, to save an extra 1000 lives by 2020.

Each year in Scotland around 3000 people suffer a cardiac arrest, but currently, only around one in 12 will survive. Performing CPR can at least double the chances of survival.

St John Scotland is keen to help members of the public learn this vital skill so they can help save the life of a loved one – or a member of the public – in an emergency.

Janice Webster, chairman of St John Scotland’s Perth and Kinross area, said:“Learning how to do CPR is a very simple way of gaining a skill which could help save someone’s life.

“In an area like Perth and Kinross which has so many rural communities, an ambulance can sometimes take a long time to reach someone when they need immediate help. So having members of the public who can step in to treat someone is really important, and will help save lives in Perth and Kinross.

“We hope that people of all ages will stop by any time between 11am and 2pm to see what it is all about.”

Alongside the training session, the charity will be raising funds towards a public access defibrillator for Perth North Church, as part of their drive to increase access to the heart-start devices across the country.