People across Cornwall urged to learn CPR in a bid to help save more lives
We are also being encouraged to learn how to use a defibrillator this 'Restart a Heart Day'
People across Cornwall are being urged to learn CPR and how to use a defibrillator in a bid to help save lives.
Today is 'Restart a Heart Day' (16th October) and a plea is going out so more of us know what to do if someone suffers a cardiac arrest.
The Resuscitation Council UK along with the British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, St John Ambulance, NHS Ambulance Service and Saving Lives for Scotland work together to help raise awareness of cardiac arrest and teach CPR.
In 2019, an amazing 291,000 were trained in CPR through Restart a Heart Day.
Earlier this week a Cornish delivery driver who suffered a cardiac arrest behind the wheel met the people who saved his life to say thank you.
63-year-old Chris Barendt was on his Amazon delivery route near Portreath when he collapsed at the wheel on 30th March 2021.
The van came to a sudden halt on the road, prompting drivers in nearby vehicles- including RNLI lifeguards Tom McRitchie and Graham Fisher to pull over to help. Unable to open the van door, they smashed the window and pulled Chris on to the road to commence CPR along with passer-by Colin Grant, while they awaited the emergency services.
Responders from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) arrived on scene, including a volunteer Community First Responder. They shocked Chris seven times with the defibrillator before he regained a pulse.
Cornwall Air Ambulance was tasked to the incident, landing in a nearby field in just 12 minutes. The charity’s paramedics sedated Chris and put him on a ventilator to transfer him to Royal Cornwall Hospital.
Why is CPR important?
The British Heart Foundation says if you have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK you have less than a one in ten chance of surviving.
The charity wants to change that by making sure that as many people as possible know that when someone collapses and stops breathing normally, it is important to quickly call 999, perform hands-only CPR and use a defibrillator. This gives mums, dads, sons, daughters and friends the best chance of surviving.
Hands-only CPR reduces your risk of catching an infection, and without intervention it’s unlikely the person in cardiac arrest will survive.
You can find more information from the British Heart Foundation here.