Lifesaving lessons on offer to schools
AN APPEAL has been started to encourage high schools in Halton to sign up for a free lesson in lifesaving.
A plea has been made by the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) before this year’s Restart A Heart Day.
In last year’s event, more than 16,500 students in the North West and 150,000 nationally were trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills.
The initiative is the country’s biggest CPR training event and this year has a national target of 200,000 students on Monday, October 16.
It offers practical lessons which cover how to recognise cardiac arrest, how to help by doing effective CPR, and using a defibrillator.
NWAS complementary resources manager David McNally said: “We are encouraging all secondary schools to sign up to our lesson in lifesaving on Restart A Heart Day because cardiac arrest kills people and the power to change this lies within our communities.
“Knowing what to do in an extreme emergency situation cannot be underestimated. CPR skills are so simple to learn and they absolutely do save lives. We are targeting secondary schools because children pick up new skills with ease and can take them into adult life.
“On Restart A Heart Day 2016, ● we trained over 16,500 young people in the North West. Not bad for our first attempt, but this year we are aiming to double that number.
“We are calling on teachers, parents and students to put the pressure on their schools to take part in our movement to make the North West a ‘cardiac smart’ place.
“This means signing up to Restart A Heart Day, encouraging friends and family members to learn CPR, installing defibrillators in local communities and ultimately making our communities healthier and safer places to be.”
An NWAS spokesman said that a person in cardiac arrest will die within minutes unless they are treated immediately with CPR and defibrillation.
The CPR keeps oxygen circulating around the body to prevent damage to the brain and other organs, while a defibrillator gives an electric shock to the heart in an attempt to restore its normal rhythm.
The spokesman said that survival rates in the UK for those who suffer cardiac arrests are ‘dismal’, with fewer than one in 10 people making a recovery.
By contrast, people who have a cardiac arrest in Denmark are three times more likely to survive than a decade ago thanks to mandatory CPR training and more defibrillators being available in public places.
Schools should register their interest by Thursday, April 13 at www.nwas.nhs.uk/schools