30 June 2011
Ambulance staff in Bromley taught members of the public
how to help somebody who has collapsed and stopped
breathing.
The London Ambulance Service was at the Bromley Festival of
Sport on Sunday, giving sessions in cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) which can dramatically improve chances of survival for
patients who suffer a cardiac arrest.
The British Heart Foundation organised
the day to launch Bromley as the first Heart Town,
which is an initiative to improve heart health across the
UK.
Fourteen-year-old Annabelle Cornes said:
“It was a great day and I really enjoyed learning CPR. I now know
what to do if someone needs help and how important it is to start
doing CPR when someone stops breathing.”
Bromley Community Involvement Officer Conal Percy said: "The
event gave us an opportunity to teach Bromley residents, like
Annabelle, basic life support. We taught over 100 people how to do
CPR, so hopefully they will remember what they’ve learned and will
be able to help someone in the future.”
Over the last four years, the Service has helped to double the
cardiac arrest survival rate in London. That is thanks to more
members of the public knowing basic life support, the speed in
which our staff reach patients, the improvements in patient care,
and the number of public-access defibrillators – machines that
deliver an electric shock that can restart the heart – that we have
helped site across the capital.
Figures from 2009/10, show that 21.5 per cent of patients
suffering an out-of-hospital, bystander-witnessed cardiac arrest
and treated by ambulance staff were discharged alive from hospital.
Research also shows that effective CPR while an ambulance is on the
way can double a patient’s chances of survival, while using a
defibrillator can increase it by more than a third.
Notes to editors: