"By the time an ambulance arrives it may be too late"

Tuesday 15 October 2019

Islanders are being urged to seize the opportunity to learn the life-saving skill of restarting a heart.

As part of World Restart a Heart Day (WRHD) tomorrow, the Ambulance Service will be running stands at Charing Cross and Les Quennevais Sports Centre between 10:30 and 15:00, where members of the public can learn how to provide first aid to someone whose heart has stopped beating.

In the UK, statistics show that there is about a 10% chance of someone surviving a heart attack outside of hospital.

Pictured: There will be a WRHD stall at Charing Cross tomorrow.

Janet Davison, who is in charge of training and development at the Ambulance Service and the leader of WRHD in Jersey, commented: “You don’t need to be a medical professional to provide treatment to the victim of a heart attack. Just five minutes of basic instruction from us, as we’re delivering at our stands, can give you the skills you need to deliver first aid that can hugely increase a patient’s chance of survival.”

She added: “Every second counts in these instances so by the time that an ambulance arrives it may be too late."

The Ambulance Service's plan is therefore to increase the number of people in Jersey trained with basic CPR skills and to boost the confidence of the islanders to use public defibrillators.

The Service has also been training up volunteer 'Community First Responders' (CFRs) - a group of people with advanced first aid skills, who will normally be the first on the scene of a medical emergency, especially in the more rural parishes. They are planned to be fully operational by the end of the year.

Janet added: “The more people we have trained in basic life-saving techniques on the island, the more chance there is that somebody with these skills will be present at the scene of a heart attack.

"Please get involved, you never know when you might be needed."

IN PICTURES: Training in action...