UK schools are now required to teach first aid as part of the curriculum, with secondary school pupils being taught life-saving methods such as CPR and the purpose of defibrillators. This will help protect schools and their local communities against cardiac arrest. Last month we delivered Heartstart and AED training to secondary school pupils at Havelock Hive Academy. The Academy, based in Grimsby, were the first school to receive training since the announcement of government funding for all schools to purchase an AED.
New government plans mean that more schools and local communities have access to vitally important first aid equipment. The government has committed to funding all necessary devices so that every school has at least one defibrillator on-site. The government have worked with charities and experts, including the British Heart Foundation, to identify the scale of need across English schools. The delivery of defibrillators began 20 January, with plans to roll out over 20,000 defibrillators to almost 18,000 state-funded schools by the end of the academic year. The defibrillators will protect pupils, staff and visitors.
Latest research shows that accessing defibrillators within 3-5 minutes of cardiac arrest increases the chance of survival by over 40%. The government met with the Oliver King Foundation to discuss the importance of having public access defibrillators in schools. Mark King, Founder of the Oliver Kind Foundation said: “It’s been 11 years since we tragically lost our [son] Ollie to a sudden cardiac arrest while he was taking part in a school swimming lesson. If there has been a defibrillator on site, our son would still be alive today.”
We at HFR Solutions understand the importance of public access defibrillators, and have donated multiple defibrillators to community groups over the years. A public access defibrillator was most recently donated to the Malet Vikings Football Club in Hull, with 24/7 availability for emergency use. This will have a significant impact on making the community safer. We have also committed to providing defibrillators around the East Riding, with 11 locations already identified.
Defibrillator Donation, Malet Vikings Football Club, Hull
Restart a Heart Day 2022
This isn't the first time HFR Solutions have delivered first aid training to school pupils. In October 2022, our team worked alongside two paramedics from Yorkshire Ambulance Service to teach first aids skills to six groups of students for Restart a Heart Day. Restart a Heart Day 2022 brought together young people from 131 of Yorkshire's secondary schools to teach lifesaving skills.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service started Restart a Heart Day in 2014, with the aim of improving outcomes from cardiac arrest in the county by teaching people cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Last year's event took place on October 14 and smashed the milestone of more than 200,000 young people being taught CPR since the Restart a Heart campaign was launched in 2014. During this time, bystander CPR rates in Yorkshire have increased from 39.9% (2014) to 74.9%* (2021 – *provisional data).
These students are potential future lifesavers and we were pleased to have received feedback that the children really enjoyed the experience. A representative from Sirius Academy West, Hull, commented "Year 7 [were] hard at it learning lifesaving skills for Restart a Heart Day. Thank you to Yorkshire Ambulance and Anthony Fill from HFR Solutions CIC for leading the day".
Restart a Heart Day, Sirius Academy West, Hull
We are working towards making the Humber region a safer place to live and work. We plan to continue providing life-saving first aid training to community groups, schools and care homes across the Humber region. HFR Solutions aim to ensure that as many schools in our region receive this vital and life-saving training as possible. This can be achieved with our help, get in touch today!
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