Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) ran training workshops for ‘Restart a Heart Day’ on Wednesday 16th October, to deliver lifesaving skills to the wider university community.
The annual initiative, led by Resuscitation Council UK, is held in October by an alliance of partners all over the world (including UK Ambulance Services, universities, and other charitable and public sector community-based organisations and first-air training organisations), who come together to increase public awareness of cardiac arrests and the number of people trained in delivering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) skills.
The project was led at KMMS by Dr Tim Collins, who with support from the Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) Simulation Team and several KMMS students, arranged the workshops at both the University of Kent and CCCU Canterbury campuses, Dr Collins said:
“In the UK, approximately 250 people a day have a sudden cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, the survival rate remains low in the UK, with only 1 in 10 people surviving. Compare this to other countries where CPR is widely taught such as Norway, the survival rate is four times higher. 80% of people sustain cardiac arrest in the home/workplace and often it is those around them that administer CPR. By providing these skills, it helps to increase survival rate from cardiac arrest.”
The day saw over 200 staff and students from across both universities to be taught these lifesaving skills, with many learning them for the first time. The team at the University of Kent were even able to take the workshop outside to engage with even more of the wider community!
One of the members of Kent staff who dropped into the session was Vicky Hogan, who said: “I had learnt basic skills previously but felt it important to be reminded of these skills so as not to feel afraid to act in a crisis. After the session, I now feel I could take the lead in a situation and help advise others around me of the processes to follow.” Another, Christian Cable, came due to a personal experience of losing his best friend to cardiac arrest. He added: “If I am ever in a position to help someone else in that situation, I would now know what to do.”
It was also a valuable exercise for our students, who delivered the workshops under the guidance of staff members. Nick Pearce, one of the volunteers and a key figure in helping to organise the event, commented:
“National Restart a Heart Day is such an incredible initiative run by the Resuscitation Council. Since cardiac arrests are time-critical emergencies, being confident in administering life-saving aid significantly increases the chances of survival. I wanted to introduce this yearly event to KMMS, hoping to raise awareness and improve survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in our local area.”
Dr Collins concluded: “The event was a great success, and it was so rewarding to support our students with providing opportunities to our community. Thank you to all who participated and were excellent ambassadors to KMMS.” Planning has already started for next year’s event, which we hope will be even bigger than this year.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all involved in the project, including Dr Tim Collins, Chris Senior from the CCCU Simulation Team, and students Nick Pearce, Lewis Courtnage, Oscar Tanfield, Timo Kuerten, Laura Rogers, Deb Mukherjee, Charlotte Odlin, Samantha Karim, Anna Record, Carlota Martinez Juan, Isabella Di Trolio and Calum Ruth for contributing their time and expertise to the day.
For full information about the Restart a Heart initiative and opportunities to learn the necessary skills, please visit https://www.resus.org.uk/get-involved/restart-heart-day.