Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex to help nearly 10,000 people become potential life savers
Children as young as 7 will be taught life-saving skills on Restart A Heart Day.
Nearly ten thousand people across over ninety schools and organisations have signed up to a CPR course led by an air ambulance charity in Surrey.
Next Monday, which is also Restart a Heart Day, the Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex will be hosting online CPR awareness sessions, and will be educating children as young as seven on what to do.
The charity say that "Every child, and every adult, has the potential to save a life. They just need to know how."
Throughout the day specialist critical care doctors and paramedics from KSS will host fun and interactive sessions, tailored to different age groups, that anyone with internet access can take part in to learn the skills that could one day help them to save a life.
**"It's what happens before medical help that influences survival."**
Ben Paul, who is a paramedic at the KSS is leading the initiative, said "One of our key messages is that people can't actually make the situation worse - you can't harm people by doing CPR. We know that when we speak to people that's probably one of their biggest fears."
Across the South East, an average of 22 people each day suffer a cardiac arrest out of a hospital. Sadly, the overall survival rate last year for this group of people was around 11%, and survival falls by up to10% for every minute a patient doesn’t receive CPR or defibrillation. Ben explained that teaching early action is crucial.
"It's what happens before medical help arrives that influences survival, so we know that we need people to act in those first couple of minutes before the ambulance arrives... that is the defining factor as to whether people or make a good outcome or not."
Ben also explained that young children can be brilliant in a critical situation.
"We know from our experience that actually children are some of the best placed in terms of confidence, not getting overwhelmed, in terms of just stepping forward and acting.
"What we want people to do by CPR is to just literally step forward, put their hands on someone's chest, and press... that means that literally anybody has the potential to save a life."
Schools, businesses, groups and individuals, who want to sign up for the sessions can do so quickly and easily by clicking here ****
Timings:
Key Stage 2 Sessions (7 to 11 years)
9:30am, 11am and 1.30pm
Adult and secondary school sessions (11 years and over)
12pm and 2.15pm
Child and Parent (or guardian/carer) joint sessions
4pm, 5pm and 6pm