Heartstart UK after school course
We have recently affiliated our school to Heartstart UK. The course is delivered in a very child friendly way and has been designed specifically for children by the British Heart Foundation.
We would like to thank the British Heart Foundation for donation of nearly £900 pounds worth of equipment to teach this course.
Heartstart UK
Heartstart UK is an initiative co-ordinated by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to teach the public what to do in a life-threatening emergency. Working in partnership with a wide range of agencies, the BHF aims to save lives by providing opportunities for the public to learn skills of emergency life support.
What is emergency life support?
Emergency life support is the set of actions needed to keep a person alive in an emergency until professional help arrives. Emergency life support skills can be used in a wide range of emergency situations from choking and serious bleeding to cardiac arrest (this is when the heart stops and in adults is usually caused by a heart attack).
Why teach emergency life support?
Life-threatening emergencies are common. Coronary heart disease in particular, is one of this country’s biggest killers. Although the coronary heart disease rate is falling in the UK, is still one of the highest in the world., accounting for more than 120,000 deaths per year. Every two minutes, a person has a heart attack, and in 30% of case dies before reaching hospital.
Ambulance services are well trained and equipped to deal with cardiac arrest and other emergencies. Automated external defibrillators, which can restart the heart with a controlled electric shock, are becoming more widely available in the community. However, when a person’s heart stops pumping, it only takes a few minutes for irreversible brain damage to occur.
This is where emergency life support skills come in. Many people who might otherwise die can be saved if someone on the scene knows how to apply emergency life support. By supplying enough oxygen to keep vital organs alive until the emergency services arrive, the emergency life support train by-stander can sustain life during those crucial minutes.
Why teach emergency life support to children?
Children are often present at accidents and emergencies, and if properly trained are just as capable of applying emergency life support as adults. By acting promptly, they can prevent disability and save lives. Children from 10 years can learn the complete range of emergency life support skills, However many of the skills can be learnt by much younger children, too. School is the ideal environment to introduce a staged programme of emergency life support learning.
Mrs Day and Mrs Peal will be running courses throughout the school year for different year groups. If your child would like to participate please either speak to Mrs Day or Mrs Peal or e-mail admin@toothill.swindon.sch.uk for further information.
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