Therese Sidney, Richard Sandham, Hannah Choules, Jemima Tyrell, and Camilla Bediones, from Kingston Hospital’s Resuscitation team, headed to Waterloo station on Saturday 16 October to support Restart a Heart Day. Each year, in October, the Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) promote the Restart a Heart initiative which encourages the teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to the public. Ensuring that as many people as possible are trained in CPR is extremely valuable; out-of-hospital cardiac arrests have a less than one in ten survival rate in the UK, and it’s therefore vital for the public to be educated regarding which steps to take if someone collapses and stops breathing normally. Kingston Hospital’s Resuscitation team were able to offer the general public passing through Waterloo station the opportunity to learn how to give hands-only CPR (in line with government social distancing guidance) and how to use a defibrillator. The team were supported by the British Heart Foundation and Dr Marion Norbrook, whose father survived a cardiac arrest at Waterloo station some years ago.
Therese Sidney, Resuscitation/Simulation Lead said: “We haven’t been able to engage in-person with the public on Restart a Heart Day for the past 2 years due to COVID-19, as restrictions have been eased, my team and I were very keen to resume this again. We were well received by the Waterloo station staff and soon we were teaching a variety of commuters how to perform CPR. The feedback we received was so positive and encouraging, people were genuinely keen to learn and practice this life skill. We really enjoyed it and look forward to a bigger collaboration with London Ambulance Service and others next year.”
You can watch the RCUK’s short animation video CPR Right Now, which demonstrates the steps to save a life, while reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
