Selby College students and staff take part in Restart a Heart Campaign

On Wednesday 16th October emergency medical services staff came to Selby College as part of the Resuscitation Council’s sixth annual Restart a Heart Day. Selby College staff and students joined over 40,000 students across Yorkshire and Humber to learn life-saving CPR.

Restart a Heart Day aims to raise awareness of cardiac arrests in partnership with the British Heart Foundation, St John Ambulance, British Red Cross and Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.

Departments including Beauty, Biology, Business, Childcare, Hairdressing, Health & Social Care, Higher Education, IT & Computing, Public Services and Sport took part in 10 sessions throughout the day, with a total of 295 people trained and presented with an ‘I know CPR’ certificate by the end of the day.

Across the UK, there are over 30,000 cardiac arrests outside of hospital every year, but the survival rate is less than 1 in 10. Students were taught what to do if they were to find someone unconscious and not breathing. In many medical emergencies the first few minutes are critical and if effective treatment can be provided at this time, lives can be saved.

Many thanks to Yorkshire Ambulance Service Paramedic Paul Brown, University of Hull Student Paramedic Chloe Levitt and Selby Community First Responder Leigh Harrison for providing the training.

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service operates the Community First Responder (CFR) scheme where volunteers are trained to use life-saving skills in their local area. CFRs are trained in basic life support (BLS) skills including cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation and oxygen therapy and are equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED) oxygen and a first aid kit.

If anyone is interested in training to become a Community First Responder in the Selby area please get in touch via their website or email yas.responders@nhs.net as they are currently recruiting for more volunteers.