Henfield first responders give pupils a life-saving lesson

Children in year five and six at Upper Beeding Primary School received training as part of the Restart a Heart initiative when they were visited by members of Henfield’s First Response Team.

The Henfield HART team taught the children CPR and also the importance of the acronym DRABC which would help them in an emergency situation to potentially save a life.

Restart a Heart is an annual campaign to raise awareness of the importance of CPR organised jointly by a number of organisations including the British Heart Foundation and the Resuscitation Council (UK).

Throughout the week beginning October 15, South East Coast Ambulance Service, (SECAmb), and its partners provided training to more than 10,000 people as part of the world-wide initiative.

SECAmb, which first took part in the Restart a Heart in 2016, together with its partners and volunteers, including fire services across its region, visited schools and community groups to teach basic CPR.

SECAmb community partnership lead, Malcolm Legg said: “We’re delighted to be involved in this fantastic initiative again this year and I know all the teams involved are looking forward to delivering the training.

“Learning how to perform CPR is such a useful skill and can simply mean the difference between someone’s life being saved or not.

“The actions taken in the first few minutes when someone suffers a cardiac arrest are vital when it comes to maximising the chances of survival.

“If someone starts CPR in those first moments, the ambulance crews are much better placed to attempt to secure a positive outcome.

“I’d like to thank everyone who is involved including our staff, volunteers, fire service teams and NHS colleagues for giving up their time to teach others how to save a life.”