Shifnal students take CPR skills to heart

Staff and volunteers from West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) have been teaching CPR to thousands of schoolchildren across Shropshire and the West Midlands.

The Restart a Heart Day campaign is run by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Resuscitation Council, with help from the emergency services.

About 150 pupils and more than a dozen staff at Idsall School took part in the training with two community first responders on Tuesday. (16)

Jennie Reeve, senior learning manager at Idsall School, said: “There were 30 minute sessions throughout the day. They were shown a video and then had the chance to try out CPR on a dummy. They were also taught the procedure about what to do if you come across someone who might need CPR.

“It’s the first year we’ve done it but it’s definitely something we would do again.”

Survival

Each year, WMAS attends up to 4,000 cardiac arrests in the community. Last year, 79 of the 334 heart related conditions Midlands Air Ambulance Charity responded to were in Shropshire.

The BHF has highlighted that if a person suffers a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital in the UK, they have less than a one in 10 chance of surviving. For every minute after the patient’s heart has stopped, their chance of survival also drops by 10 per cent.

WMAS community response manager, Cliff Medlicott said: “By training children at school that CPR is easy to do we make sure that they aren’t afraid should it ever happen to a loved one of theirs, but we also stress that they need to act immediately.

“We know that many of the children go home and tell their parents about what they have been up to and they in turn learn the skills. Our staff say saving a patient in cardiac arrest is the greatest success they can have so imagine what it would be like if your child made the difference to your life.

“Together CPR and receiving a shock from a defibrillator as soon as possible will give the bets chance of saving a person’s life.”