People from Carlisle and surrounding areas are being offered the chance to learn how to help someone who has gone into cardiac arrest, as health charity St John Ambulance brings life saving skills to the public as part of the 2019 Restart A Heart campaign.
Working with the Resuscitation Council and other partners, St John Ambulance’s first aid demonstrations will contribute to an ambition of teaching as many people as possible these skills in October. While Restart A Heart Day is on 16 October, St John Ambulance’s highly trained adult first aiders and younger volunteers around the country will be arranging demos throughout the month to give people more opportunities to attend.
In Carlisle, local volunteers will be providing demonstrations on Monday 14th October at the St John Ambulance unit base on Scalegate Road.
These sessions, which last an hour, are free to attend and will include practical information on how to deliver Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and deliver shocks to the heart with a defibrillator.
Currently, less than one in 10 people* in the UK survives a cardiac arrest out of hospital and St John Ambulance and its Restart A Heart partners want to change that. Chances of survival double when someone gives immediate CPR and significantly increases further when a defibrillator is used.
St John Ambulance’s Head of Volunteering for the North, Lynsey McCabe, said: “Our volunteers here and around the country are pleased to be participating again in this year’s Restart A Heart campaign, making the local community more resilient and inspiring community response to cardiac arrest emergencies. It is vital that as many people as possible learn how to deliver CPR and use a defibrillator because of the unpredictable nature of cardiac arrests. By ensuring that more people have these skills and are not afraid to use them if they find someone who has collapsed and is not breathing, we can hopefully increase the number of people ready to step forward and intervene. In the space of only an hour you can pick up these skills from us for free so please make it a priority to find a Restart A Heart demo near to you and come along.”
The campaign will be promoted widely on social media. To join in the conversation, search for the hashtag #RestartAHeart. To find out more about the campaign online and also to see a full list of demos please visit www.sja.org.uk/restartaheart.
To pick up more first aid skills, download the free St John Ambulance app or visit www.sja.org.uk.
