YAS Launch Life-Saving CPR Campaign
Hundreds of school children across the region are being shown how to perform CPR today.
Hundreds of school children across our region are learning about life-saving CPR today.
It's part of Yorkshire Ambulance Service's Restart A Heart Campaign.
They're visiting 89 secondary schools across the county to teach CPR to more than 20,000 children in what will be the biggest event of its kind ever seen in the world.
We've been to St Mary's School in Hull, one of the schools to benefit from the initiative. Watch a video with Fiona from Yorkshire Ambulance Service, who talks us through how to perform CPR:
Meanwhile, a York woman who suffered a heart attack and says she wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the quick actions of two bystanders - is backing calls for more people to learn CPR.
Just 36% of people in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire say they'd know what to do if someone collapsed in front of them.
While around 60% of people here admit tyhey'd be worried about knowing what to do if a person went into cardiac arrest.
That's according to new figures released by the British Heart Foundation.
It's exactly a year since Caroline Kimberling from York had a heart attack. She was in the cinema at the time and was saved by two people nearby knowing how to perform CPR.
She says had she been anywhere else at the time, she might not have survived. She told Viking FM:
“I am delighted to support Restart a Heart Day because I am only alive today because of the CPR I received in October last year when, unexpectedly, my heart went into a fatal rhythm whilst at the cinema with two of my sons.
“The people who saved my life acted bravely and quickly, which meant my four boys still have their mum. And not only that, I have suffered no lasting damage from the fairly significant length of time I spent without breathing and without my heart beating for itself. I can’t ever thank them enough.
“I feel it is incredibly important that as many people as possible learn how to deliver CPR, including schoolchildren. I believe they are every bit as able as adults to perform CPR. We never know when somebody just may need it, young or old.”
As part of Yorkshire Ambulance Service's Restart A Heart Day, the service will be visiting 89 secondary schools across the region today.
It's to teach life-saving CPR to more than 20,000 children in what will be the biggest event of its kind ever seen in the world.
More than 400 volunteers including YAS staff, community first responders, St John Ambulance helpers as well as staff from Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, Hull Royal Infirmary and York District Hospital are giving up their time to pass on their life-saving skills to others.
Jason Carlyon, Resuscitation Manager for Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said:
“As an ambulance trust we have set ourselves a target of teaching CPR to one million people over the next five years. This demonstrates how committed we are to providing our cardiac arrest patients with the best possible chances of survival.
“We are incredibly proud of our initiative to teach CPR to more than 20,000 children in one day; it’s going to be an awesome event which will provide our communities with even more people who are equipped with the skills to save a life.”