Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) is offering vital basic life-support training in support of the national Restart a Heart campaign, which runs from October 10-16.
The campaign encourages members of the public and school children to take part in free life-support sessions taking place at various locations across the country.
In the UK, less than one in ten people survive a cardiac arrest and the Restart a Heart campaign aims to provide hands-on training to help increase these survival rates.
Cardiac arrests can occur anywhere, for example in the street, at work, or while exercising or doing other strenuous activity. Unfortunately, the vast majority happen at home, where family are the only witnesses and the ones with the chance to save their loved ones.
Restart a Heart aims to teach people what to do should they face such a situation, to help increase the chance of survival.
KFRS involvement includes free drop-in sessions for the public delivered by firefighters, with the support of KFRS emergency life support instructors, community safety (CS) service delivery team and KFRS volunteers. The 30-minute sessions include basic life-support training and CPR, as well as a myth-busting session about defibrillators.
The community safety service delivery team are also set to deliver Restart a Heart sessions in around 40 primary schools across Kent and Medway to approximately 1,500 year 6 pupils, on behalf of Secamb.
KFRS Community Safety Service Delivery Manager Neil Parr said: “In just 30 minutes those taking part in one of the Restart a Heart sessions on offer will learn what to do to potentially save the life of someone who has had a cardiac arrest. We are proud to support this initiative and are looking forward to passing on these essential life-support skills to a wide cross section of our community and we would encourage people to come along – you could actually save a life with what you learn.”
Drop-in sessions:
Ramsgate fire station
Monday, October 9, 6.30pm-9.30pm, Sunday, October 15, 10am-4pm.
Margate fire station
Wednesday, October 11 and Friday, October 13 at 10am,11am, noon, 2pm and 3pm. Tuesday, October 10 at 2pm-5pm