Heather Wheeler MP urges the secondary schools of South Derbyshire to register for a free CPR training kit for staff and pupils to use from the British Heart Foundation.
Mrs Wheeler said “CPR is a vital skill that we should all have, over 30,000 people suffer from cardiac arrest outside of a hospital each year, if more people know how to perform CPR, many lives will be saved.
“The schools of South Derbyshire should register for their free kit to make sure that their students have the skills to help save a life. Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone and it would be an unnecessary tragedy for lives to be lost simply because the surrounding people did not know what to do.
“I commend the British Heart Foundation for their essential work in this area and their aim to create a nation of lifesavers” finished the South Derbyshire MP.
At the event, Heather met with Samantha Hobbs, who at 14 helped to save her mum’s life by performing CPR. With her dad, they kept her mum alive until the emergency services arrived and could get her heart beating again with a single electric shock from a defibrillator.
Samantha had been trained in CPR so she knew what to do. Now she’s campaigning to raise awareness amongst others so that more people are trained and more lives can be saved.
Samantha said: “I was only able to help save my mum’s life because I’d been trained in CPR. I don’t know what might have happened if I hadn’t. We’re really pleased to be able to support the BHF’s Nation of Lifesavers campaign and spread the message about the importance of CPR. I hope more lives are saved.”
To help the BHF create a Nation of Lifesavers visit bhf.org.uk/lifesavers and sign our petition at bhf.org.uk/cprpetition
[Ends.]
Notes to Editors:
Photo – Heather with the Hobbs family
1. BHF estimate over 30,000 cardiac arrests outside of hospital a year where the emergency medical services attempt to resuscitate the victim. Detailed statistics are currently only available for England.
2. BHF estimate based on North East Cardiac Arrest Network - NECAN (2013), Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Registry 2012 and London Ambulance Service (2013), Cardiac Arrest Annual Report: 2012/13
3. BHF estimates on available data in England (8.6%) www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/stasistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-….
4. Lindner TW, Soreide E, Nilsen OB, Torunn MW, Lossius HM. Good outcome in every fourth resuscitation attempt is achievable. Resuscitation 2011; 82:1508-13.
5. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,072 UK adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 12th-14th September 2014. The survey was conducted online. All figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (age 18+).
Additional key statistics:
· The majority of the UK public (61%) would not feel confident performing CPR on a family member or loved one, despite being most likely to see a cardiac arrest at home
· Almost half (46%) would be deterred by the ‘fear of causing more harm than good’
· Four in ten (40%) people lack the knowledge and skills to act
· Nearly three in five (57%) people admit that most people in Britain would look for someone else to take the lead if they were to witness a medical emergency
· Almost half (44%) thought cardiac arrest and heart attack were different terms to describe the same condition
· More than one in ten (11%) have never heard of the term CPR
· Over four in ten (43%) wrongly thought that CPR becomes is effective for only up to 15 minutes