Air ambulance charity helps thousands learn life-saving heart resuscitation

Children as young as seven are set to take part in some of the events

Air ambulance doctors and paramedics are hosting online sessions to teach vital resuscitation skills to about 10,000 children and adults.

More than 90 schools and organisations are taking part in sessions on Monday, for Restart a Heart Day.

Children as young as seven are set to take part in some of the events.

Kent, Sussex and Surrey Air Ambulance said an average of 22 people suffer a cardiac arrest out of hospital each day in the South East.

The charity said bystander CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) could make a critical difference.

The charity said CPR was easy to learn and could save a life

Air ambulance paramedic Ben Paul said: "Everyone has the potential to save a life with CPR, they just need to know how."

Steve Harley, an air ambulance volunteer who saved his father's life in 2021 by giving him CPR within minutes of a cardiac arrest until help came, said: "CPR is one of those things that you hope you'll never have to use. Luckily, I knew what to do."

He said the sessions were a great way of providing youngsters and parents with skills that could help to save a life.

The charity said survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest remained "stubbornly low" in the UK, with fewer than one in ten people surviving.

But it said that ensuring more people had a chance to learn CPR would give those having a sudden cardiac arrest the best chance of survival.

The air ambulance charity said people could still sign up for the sessions on Monday.

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