South Central ambulance service to train youngsters

On Wednesday, October 16, the organisation will train over 10,000 students in life-saving skills, such as CPR and defibrillation use.

World Restart a Heart Day, marked by SCAS and other global organisations, aims to improve survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, which currently remain low in the UK, with fewer than one in 10 people surviving.

In addition to school training, the SCAS Charity has organised a 24-hour CPR-A-THON challenge.

This event, set to take place at 100 Brook Drive, Green Park, Reading, from 10am on Thursday, October 17, until 10am on Friday, October 18, involves teams of six to eight people performing CPR for 24 hours using a CPR manikin.

Four teams from Tanium in Green Park have already signed up for the challenge, and the charity hopes to raise more than £6,000.

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Reading resident, Tania Cheale, whose husband Richard suffered a cardiac arrest in April 2023, will be walking 96 miles from Bristol to Reading along the Kennet & Avon Canal on World Restart a Heart Day.

Richard will join her for around two hours each day.

The couple is aiming to raise £12,000 for the SCAS Charity to purchase a LUCAS 3 chest compression system device.

Further details about the CPR-A-THON challenge can be found on the SCAS Charity website.

David Hamer, paramedic and operations manager at SCAS, said: "I am delighted that we are able to go back into over 50 schools this year and would like to thank all the headteachers and senior leadership teams who are supporting World Restart a Heart Day in helping us train the next generation of lifesavers.”

"Training over 10,000 students in CPR and defibrillation in one day is no mean feat and wouldn’t be possible without the amazing efforts of the more than 100 SCAS Charity volunteers who are helping us in schools across the South Central region."