Restart A Heart Day 2017

Restart A Heart Day is an action day that embodies one of the main things defibshop is all about… teaching CPR.

This year, October 16th marks European Restart A Heart Day, a day that for the last four years has been designed to teach as many people as possible across Europe the vital life-skill of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).

2016 and 2017’s Actions

Last year saw the Resuscitation Council UK partner with organisations such as The British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, St. John Ambulance and all of the UK’s ambulance services. This partnering lead the team onto training an incredible 150,581 young people in CPR, all in one single day.

If you ask us, that’s a pretty great achievement.

Following the fantastic success achieved in 2016, the plan for 2017 is simple, make it bigger and even better! The same life-saving organisations will be partnering up again and are aiming to train a further 150,000 people in CPR.

Now, this is where defibshop and our training department, imperative training can get involved, as the Resuscitation Council UK have encouraged private first aid training companies to host events to help train even more people in CPR.

CPR and its Importance

CPR is a simple skill that can be learned within an hour and by spending that hour perfecting your skills, you could potentially save a life! An hour of your time could give back a lifetime.

Unfortunately, no one is immune to sudden cardiac arrest, not even athletes or children and unlike other cardiac conditions, aspects such as your current health condition, age, gender or ethnicity do not factor into determining the cause for the cardiac arrest.

If someone around you were to collapse and fall victim to cardiac arrest, the combination treatment of effective CPR and defibrillation of the heart would be required. A shock from a defibrillator will help restart the heart back into a normal rhythm.

Many people are unaware, but when someone falls victim to cardiac arrest, their heart doesn’t actually stop beating, it quivers meaning that blood cannot be pumped around the body and vital organs are deprived of oxygenated blood. When the heart doesn’t beat in a regular rhythm, it is medically known as an arrhythmia.

A defibrillator’s shock can help correct the quivering by shocking the heart back into a regular beating rhythm and the effective CPR, performed on the ratio of 30 chest compressions to two rescue breaths helps to ensure that blood is still being pumped around the body and oxygen is being supplied.

Get Involved

There are many ways you can get involved for Restart A Heart day, the main one being taking the time to learn CPR and learn how your hands can save a life.

What will you be doing for Restart A Heart day? Will you be learning CPR or brushing up on your technique? Share your plans in the comments section below, or join in the conversation on our Twitter page, @defibshop. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #RestartAHeart

defibshop are committed to equipping everyone with the skills and knowledge to save a life. Speak to one of our Product Specialists on 0161 776 7422 or fill out our Contact Form.Learn more about defibrillators