Learn how to ‘Restart a Heart’ in Exeter

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is inviting people in Exeter to join them for Restart a Heart Day in the city centre this Sunday.

Members of SWASFT will be opposite Coal in Princesshay Shopping Centre between 10am and 4pm on Sunday offering free CPR and defibrillator awareness training to members of the public.

The ambulance service is joining thousands of other healthcare workers from across the country to help improve public awareness of cardiac arrests and increase the number of people who are trained to act in a medical emergency.

Ollie Zorab, Clinical Lead for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest at SWASFT says: “This Restart a Heart Day, we want to empower people to know what to do, should the worst happen.

“I often hear people say they would be worried about hurting somebody when performing CPR or using a defibrillator. In reality, when someone has a sudden, unexpected cardiac arrest, doing nothing is the only way of making their situation worse.”

At the free event, members of the public can learn about cardiac arrests, find out what a defibrillator does and learn how to deliver life-saving CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Members of SWASFT, including paramedics, community first responders and responding officers, will be on hand to answer any questions and show people how to do CPR on mannikins and how to use a defibrillator. Certificates will be given to everyone who completes the 15-minute training.

Restart A Heart follows on from this summer’s Saving Lives Together/Plan Ahead campaign, which aimed to improve the confidence of bystanders to act in the event of a medical emergency, such as an out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), to give patients the best possible chance. The campaign is underpinned by clinical data from the Trust:

In the last six years, we have responded to and provided a resuscitation attempt for over 21,000 patients following a cardiac arrest
75% of these patients experienced a cardiac arrest at a private location such as a home or holiday address
Over the past six years, 65% of patients who experienced an OHCA received bystander CPR before the arrival of the first ambulance response

Saving Lives Together urges people to know where they are (using the What 3 Words app), find out where their nearest defibrillator is, and to learn how to deliver CPR. There is more information at Welcome to SWASFT - (swast.nhs.uk)

Each year for Restart A Heart Day, an alliance of partners from all over the world, including UK ambulance services, universities, and other charitable and public sector community-based organisations and first aid training organisations, come together to increase public awareness of cardiac arrests and increase the number of people trained in lifesaving CPR.