12 October 2017
Anyone can save a life – that’s the message from experts to Islanders ahead of this year’s Restart a Heart Day, which takes place next week.
The aim of Restart a Heart Day, which takes place on Monday 16 October, is to improve the low numbers of people surviving out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. This will be achieved through educating the public about the simple measures they can take to perform basic life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) using their hands and/or a defibrillator.
There are now 45 Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) sites in Jersey, but many Islanders would still hesitate to use a ‘defib’ because they regard it as a specialist piece of equipment.
UK statistics show that those suffering an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest have less than a one in ten chance of surviving. This contrasts with other countries where CPR is more widely taught, for example Norway where the survival rate is four times higher. There are several key factors to this success such as increasing the number of defibrillators, and widespread training in CPR.
Basic techniques
This year there will be two sites for people to come along and practice basic life support; everyone is welcome to come and get to grips with a defibrillator or learn about other basic techniques that could save a life
- Les Quennevais Sports Centre, St Brelade: 8am- 3pm
- King Street, St Helier between Jack Wills & Hamons: 9.30am- 3.30pm
“It’s great that a network of defibrillator sites has built up across the Island in recent years, we now want to make sure people know where they are and how to use them,” said Janet Davison, Training and Development Officer for the States of Jersey Ambulance Service. “People worry that they might make the patient worse, but the only wrong thing you can do for someone in this position is to ignore them.
“Anyone could encounter a situation where someone’s had a cardiac arrest, whether it’s a loved one or someone they’ve never met. A few minutes spent being given basic advice should make people more confident that they can step up if required.”
gov.je