A SERIES of public events teaching Islanders life-saving skills is taking place in Jersey today.
As part of “Restart a Heart Day”, representatives of the Island’s health and emergency services will show Islanders how to recognise a cardiac arrest, call for help, perform CPR and use a defibrillator.
Conor Quinn, resuscitation officer at the Health Department’s Resuscitation Service, said “immediate action” is needed when someone suffers a heart attack.
The survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests is less than 10%, but with life-saving action taken, this increases dramatically.
“Through this event we want to show that anyone can learn these skills,” Mr Quinn added. “CPR is easy to perform and if a collapsed person receives bystander CPR before they reach us in hospital their chances of survival are much greater.”
Last year, there were 149 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Jersey last year, and public education on life-saving techniques can be the difference between life and death for many islanders.
Representatives from the Health Department, the Ambulance Service, Jersey Fire and Rescue and Jersey Hear Support Group will be on hand at the events taking place in West’s Centre and Brook Street in St Helier, and the Enid Quenault Health Centre in St Brelade from 9am to 2pm today.
