09 October 2019

Are you ready to #RestartAHeart? College Green event, Wednesday 16 October

Wednesday 16 October is Restart a Heart day, an annual initiative led by the Resuscitation Council (UK), which aims to improve the low numbers of people surviving out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

To mark the day, a team from University Hospitals Bristol will be on Bristol College Green, together with colleagues from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) and medical students from the University of Bristol. The team will be training as many people as possible in the lifesaving technique, as well as increasing awareness of the importance of using CPR and defibrillators rapidly.

The event will take place between 10am-5pm, and is open for anyone to come along and learn this lifesaving technique.

Anyone can be affected by cardiac arrest at any time, and more than 30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests happen in the UK every year. Survival rates for out of hospital cardiac arrests are less than 10%. Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by up to 10% and without CPR, the chances of surviving are zero.

However, thousands of lives could be saved every year if more people knew how to perform CPR, a simple and easy technique, but one which can double a person's chances of survival. 

 That is why organisations around the world come together every year to increase public awareness of cardiac arrests and increase the number of people trained in lifesaving CPR by organising and facilitating training events. Alongside the event on College Green, there are a number of other events taking place in the South West. To find out more about other events taking place, visit the SWASFT website.

 Learning CPR is quick, easy, and could save someone's life. Please come along to College Green on Wednesday 16 October to learn easy but vital skills, and help get as many lives saved as possible.

 Further info on CPR can be found on the British Heart Foundation website here

 What is cardiac arrest?

A cardiac arrest is a time critical medical emergency where the heart stops beating abruptly. When this happens, blood stops pumping round the body and the brain is starved of oxygen which causes the person to fall unconscious and stop breathing.

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