As part of national ‘Restart a Heart’ day, where the British Heart Foundation and other agencies combine to get as many schoolchildren as possible trained in CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation), Westbourne students had the opportunity to learn some life saving drills, thanks to Dr Katie Clark and paramedic Steven Magee who spent the afternoon in school teaching students.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) examined the figures from the European Resuscitation Centre and concluded that 6,000 lives could be saved each year in the UK if 40% more people survived.At present, ambulance staff go to the aid of 30,000 people who suffer cardiac arrest each year – and just 20% of these people survive, the charity said. The BHF said that the number of people dying unnecessarily from cardiac arrest is “unacceptable” and called for CPR to be taught in schools.
We were fortunate to have the resuscitation dummies in school (provided by the BHF) and alongside two experts, Dr Katie (an A&E doctor in Merthyr) and paramedic Steven who guided the pupils from Year 9, 10, 11, Pre IB and IB1 & 2, through the process. Some interesting and intelligent questions were asked by Westbourne pupils and they were answered by the two experts.
Our sincere thanks to both Katie and Steven for giving up their time to assist the pupils in these valuable life skills and to the British Heart Foundation for organising the event and providing the resources.