Restart A Heart Day 2020

Ian Roberts, air operations manager for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity explains the importance of bystander CPR in increasing a cardiac arrest patient’s chance of survival:

“Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown period, 27 per cent of all missions attended by Midlands Air Ambulance Charity were cardiac arrests, that’s why we would like to mark 2020’s Restart A Heart Day by promoting our Mission Support CPR training. We are currently working on making it available online.

“Over the past year, cardiac arrests have been ranked in our top five mission types. With a cardiac arrest, every second counts and immediate bystander CPR is required to help save lives. Whether the bystander is a family member, friend, colleague or stranger, basic CPR administered on scene, before the arrival of advanced clinical care teams, can give a patient the best possible outcome and increase their chances of survival.

“The chances of a person surviving a cardiac arrest without CPR are sadly very low, and despite our ability to reach and start treating a patient within 15 minutes, if they haven’t received CPR within the first few minutes, it’s highly unlikely they will survive.

“To help educate those based within the local communities we serve, we launched a CPR training programme to teach the vitally important lifesaving skill to those in schools, colleges, universities, businesses and community groups.

“With the current restrictions in place, we have had to postpone all physical training sessions. However, following sponsorship from a dedicated corporate partner, Phoenix Group, a leading savings and retirement business, our Mission Support training sessions will now be provided virtually. This is so that social distancing measures are not breached meaning we can keep our clinicians safe.

“Once restrictions have been eased, we aim to continue delivering the Mission Support training sessions, in person, providing local people in the communities we serve with practical advice on how to undertake CPR.”

The Restart A Heart Day campaign is organised by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Resuscitation Council. The initiative aims to raise awareness of the importance of CPR, highlighting that if a person suffers an out of hospital cardiac arrest in the UK, they have less than a ten per cent chance of survival.

To find out more about Midlands Air Ambulance Charity's Mission Support Training, which includes CPR and Bleed Control skills, you can watch a video, here: https://youtu.be/RB5oQ4fZWJQ

For more information on Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, you can visit midlandsairambulance.com and follow the organisation on social media.