London Ambulance Service celebrates 60 years of saving lives – and everyone is invited!

Paramedics at London Ambulance Service are holding a fun free day out for families this summer.

To celebrate 60 years of saving lives, the Service’s London Lifesavers team will be teaching life-saving skills like how to do chest compressions – also known as CPR – and how to use a defibrillator.

Paramedic Sam Cox, who is helping to organise the event, said: “We are honouring the past by empowering future generations to save lives.

“Whether you’re eight-years-old or 80, anyone can learn these simple life-saving skills – and anyone can use them to save a life.

“Most cardiac arrests happen in the home so teaching families these skills is the best way to protect loved ones.”

Everyone is invited to the special open day in Battersea Park and to make it extra fun, children can test their skills in a race against an ambulance!

When children perform CPR on training mannequins which are hooked up to iPads, they will see their ambulance moving across the screen.

🗓️When: Wednesday 6 August, 11am-4pm

📍 Where: Millennium Sports Arena, Carriage Drive East, London, SW11 4NJ

💷 Cost: FREE

🎉 Hosted by: London Ambulance Service

Specialist responders from the Hazardous Area Response Team and Tactical Response Unit will talk about their exciting jobs and take questions.

People can find out about apprenticeship and volunteering opportunities with London Ambulance Service.

Visitors will also be able to see some of the London Ambulance Service Historic Collection.

This will include an impressive exhibit of modern and historic ambulances complete with original medical kit from the past.

Ambulance services had existed before 1965 but previously come under control of various bodies, from the fire service to the London County Council.

Sixty years ago nine services amalgamated to form London Ambulance Service.

Equipment on a 1965 ambulance was limited – usually a stretcher, splints, breathing apparatus and bandages – and the role of an attendant was to collect patients and get them straight to hospital.

Now every single ambulance is kitted with a defibrillator – a life-saving machine which can help restore a heartbeat to a normal rhythm when someone is in cardiac arrest.

Defibrillators are also installed in public places so anyone can use them in an emergency. If you cannot attend the Battersea open day, you can learn how to use a defibrillator here.

Find out about the London Ambulance Charity Heart Starters campaign to fund more defibrillators for the capital and sign up for the charity’s flagship fundraising event, the London Life Hike.