More than 15,000 young people across the East Midlands will be taught how to save a life as part of National Restart a Heart Day.
On Tuesday, 16 October, East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) will provide free CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training in 44 primary schools, 33 secondary schools and six colleges.
We will be doing this with the help of partnership organisations including Derbyshire Fire and Rescue, Derbyshire Police, Northamptonshire Police, Northamptonshire Search and Rescue, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham Fire and Rescue, LIVES and Lincolnshire Police.
Throughout the day, pupils will be trained in how to perform CPR on someone in cardiac arrest. In a life-threatening emergency seconds count and chest compressions keep oxygen flowing around the patient’s body increasing their chance of survival.
For the first time the project has invited the regions primary schools to join, with the aim of quadrupling the total of 4000 pupils taught in 2017 to over 10,000 in 2018.
National Restart a Heart Day has been organised through the joint effort of leading UK charities and emergency services, including the Resuscitation Council (UK) and the British Heart Foundation, which is donating free training kits to the schools taking part.
Mick Barnett-Connolly, Head of Community Response and Collaboration at EMAS said: “If someone suffers a cardiac arrest their chances of survival increase considerably if it happens in front of someone who starts CPR immediately.
“This year is a real partnership effort across the East Midlands and together we are growing the network of lifesavers by equipping these students with skills they will remember for life.”