Are you ready to #RestartAHeart?

Are you ready for Restart a Heart day – Wednesday 16 October 2019?  South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) will be running events right across the South West in order to train as many people as possible in the life-saving technique. Our Community First Responders and Ambulance teams will be out and about teaching skills in schools across October too.  Please help us to publicise and get as many lives saved as possible. 

Find a venue across the South West which is local to you and come get in some life-saving practice on 16 October 2019 with trained Community First Responders and Emergency teams.

The Restart a Heart campaign (RSAH) is an annual initiative led by the Resuscitation Council (UK) in partnership with The British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, St John Ambulance, and Yorkshire Ambulance Service which aims to improve the low numbers of people surviving out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. 

On Wednesday 16 October, an alliance of organisations all over the world (including Ambulance Services, Medical Schools, and Fire and Rescue Services) will be coming together to increase public awareness of cardiac arrests and increase the number of people trained in life saving CPR by organising and facilitating training events. 

This is the sixth annual Restart a Heart campaign and the second annual World Restart a Heart (WRSAH) campaign. 

Without CPR the chances of surviving cardiac arrest are zero. Join us to Restart a Heart and save a life today. When the stakes are this high, don't think twice, just try. #RestartAHeart

There are six easy steps to save a life – please see this link:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/restart-a-hea...

 Key Messages: 

● Anyone can be affected by cardiac arrest at any time. Survival rates from out of hospital cardiac arrest remain stubbornly low in the UK, with fewer than one in ten people surviving.

● Thousands of lives could be saved every year if CPR was taught more widely. 

● There are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK every year, and every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by up to 10%. 

● When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, performing immediate CPR can help double their chance of survival in some cases.

● Most episodes (around 80%) of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest occur in the home, highlighting the potential benefit of family members trained in CPR.