Pupils from three schools in north Warwickshire are set to receive life-saving Heart Shield training.More than 600 year 8 students from Coleshill School, Higham Lane School and Nuneaton Academy wil...
Pupils from three schools in north Warwickshire are set to receive life-saving Heart Shield training.
More than 600 year 8 students from Coleshill School, Higham Lane School and Nuneaton Academy will be shown how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and how to use a public access defibrillator this week.
Throughout the training week beginning today (Monday, October 15) Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service will be working with Public Health Warwickshire and volunteers from Jaguar Land Rover to deliver the latest stage of the Heart Shield programme.
The Heart Shield project has already trained more than 5000 pupils from 17 schools across Warwickshire in vital life-saving skills.
The training coincides with Restart a Heart Day, (Tuesday, October 16) an annual campaign to raise awareness of the importance of CPR organised jointly by a number of organisations including the British Heart Foundation and the Resuscitation Council.
Niky Moultrie, Heart Shield Project Officer said: “The actions taken in the first few minutes when someone suffers a cardiac arrest are vital when it comes to maximising the chances of survival. CPR skills are so simple to learn and they absolutely do save lives. If someone starts CPR in those first moments, the ambulance crews are much better placed to attempt to secure a positive outcome.
“We also help the students understand how to keep their hearts healthy, by giving tips on healthy eating and keeping active.
“We’re working with secondary schools because the students pick up new skills with ease, and take them into adult life, sharing them with friends and family.”
Warwickshire County Councillor Andy Crump, portfolio holder for Fire and Community Safety said: “We’re delighted to be involved in this fantastic initiative again this year and I know all the teams involved are looking forward to delivering the training. Learning how to perform CPR is such a useful skill and can simply mean the difference between someone’s life being saved or not.
“I’d like to thank everyone who is involved including our staff, volunteers, fire service teams and public health colleagues for giving up their time to teach others how to save a life.”
For more information on the Heart Shield programme please visit: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/firesafetyeducation