Over 30,000 children to be trained how to restart a heart

West Midlands Ambulance Service will carry out the training at schools across the region in a single day as part of a new heart awareness campaign.

It is being held to mark World Restart A Heart Day, on October 16.

Each year crews attend up to 4,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases and on average the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity provides supports at 1,000 of those incidents, with its three helicopters and the new critical care car.

Now the organisations are joining forces to run the awareness initiative led by the British Heart Foundation and the Resuscitation Council which aims to train as many children as possible in CPR, so they have the ability to use this lifesaving skill should it be needed.

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity's air operations manager Ian Roberts said: “When dealing with someone who has gone into cardiac arrest, time is of the essence as they’re effectively not receiving oxygen to their vital organs, including the brain.

Immediately

"When we arrive at the scene of a cardiac arrest, by ambulance, air ambulance or the critical care car, those who are likely to survive are the ones who are already receiving CPR, either by a bystander, friend or loved one.”

West Midlands Ambulance Service community response manager Cliff Medlicott said: “By training children at school that CPR is easy to do we make sure that they aren’t afraid should it ever happen to a loved one of theirs, but we also stress that they need to act immediately.

“We know that many of the children go home and tell their parents about what they have been up to and they in turn learn the skills which increases the chances of someone surviving.

“Our staff say saving a patient in cardiac arrest is the greatest success they can have so imagine what it would be like if your child made the difference to your life."

The service added that it also wants every adult to also learn the skill and also find out where their nearest defibrillator is to give the best chance of saving a life.

Schools are also being urged to post their training photos on social media using tags @MAA_Charity and @OFFICIALWMAS with #RestartAHeart