Students given life-saving advice

The students, from Worthing High School in South Farm Road, Worthing, were trained in first aid as part of Restart a Heart Day.

Throughout the day, SECAmb ran hour long sessions providing students with the opportunity to practice CPR.

The day was organised by SECAmb as part of a week long programme to celebrate Restart a Heart day which started on October 12 and finished on Tuesday (October 18).

Karen Hayler, Business Manager at Worthing High School said: “The Restart a Heart day was part of a national programme in partnership with the British Heart Foundation.

“We were keen to get involved so we applied for the for the free training sessions and thankfully we were selected.

“There were eight ambulances at the school with a large number of staff helping the students.

“The day was really well received by the students and we had a number of parents tweet us with their support.

“This is a really important issue in our school and a skill that hopefully none of our students will need to use, but one that is great to have.”

Worthing High applied to receive the free training after a campaign last summer in which 680 students were trained in emergency first aid.

Those students are now studying in year 8, 9 and 10 meaning that four year groups at the school are fully trained in administering first aid.

In 2014, the school had a public access defibrillator installed that is available to the whole community.

According to the British Heart Foundation, more than 30,000 people suffer cardiac arrests out of hospital in the UK every year with less than one in ten surviving.

SECAmb linked with the Resuscitation Council’s European Restart a Heart Day and the British Heart Foundation in a bid to provide hundreds of young people with the skills they need to help save a life.

SECAmb’s Restart a Heart co-ordinator and Commercial Training Manager Emma Ray said: “The students at Worthing High were all really enthusiastic and their behaviour was exemplary.

“We set out a goal to train 7,800 students in first aid and CPR and we have managed to do that over the past week.

“We wanted to teach children how to conduct CPR in an emergency because they are likely to go home and show their parents and grandparents.

“Our staff gave up their own time for these events and we think it was all a major success.”

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