Students learn how to save a life

MORE than 160 Ripon Grammar School students have learned vital life-saving skills as part of a campaign by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

They were among the 35,000 pupils at 172 schools throughout Yorkshire who were taught how to do Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on national Restart a Heart Day.

An accident and emergency nurse, paramedics and first responder volunteers came to school to give lower sixth students hands-on practice in doing compressions, using music to keep to the right rhythm.

Deputy head of sixth form Lee Lyons said: “We feel it is so important that our students know what to do if they come across someone who has suffered cardiac arrest. We hope they’ll never have to use it, but it might just help them save a life.”

Three students who took part in the YAS’s Restart a Heart Day campaign last year had since used CPR to help save the lives of parents, said YAS community engagement manager Jason Carlyon.

He says that with most cardiac arrests happening in the home, it's important for family members to have knowledge of CPR

“What happens in the first few minutes after someone has suffered a cardiac arrest is vital.

“When someone calls 999 for a patient in cardiac arrest, the call taker will ask a series of questions at the same time as help is being arranged and will also provide instructions about how to perform CPR and the location of the nearest defibrillator. It's vital that callers try to stay calm and give clear information.

“If bystanders can call 999 and start CPR while sending someone to retrieve the nearest defibrillator, that person’s chance of survival can triple.”

The Restart a Heart Day began in 2014 and has provided free CPR training to more thn 234,708 youngsters in secondary schools across the region.

Currently in the UK, less than one in ten (8.6%) people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. If we achieved the same survival rates of countries like Norway (25%), where CPR is taught in schools, an additional 100 lives could be saved each week - the equivalent of approximately 5,000 every year.

Supported by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service Charity, the event is delivered and promoted in partnership with the Resuscitation Council (UK), British Heart Foundation (BHF), St John Ambulance and the Red Cross.

Jason says it's all about giving people the confidence that they can perform CPR

Find out where you can learn CPR on the Yorkshire Ambulance Service Restart a Heart website https://restartaheart.yas.nhs.uk/about/where-can-i-learn-cpr/