People will have the chance to learn how to save someone’s life at an event taking place in Poole this Sunday 16 October.

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is holding a Restart a Heart Day in the Dolphin Shopping Centre between 10am and 4pm.

The ambulance service is joining thousands of other healthcare workers from across the country to help improve public awareness of cardiac arrests and increase the number of people who are trained to act in a medical emergency.

Ollie Zorab, clinical lead for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest at SWASFT, said: “This Restart a Heart Day, we want to empower people to know what to do, should the worst happen.

“I often hear people say they would be worried about hurting somebody when performing CPR or using a defibrillator. In reality, when someone has a sudden, unexpected cardiac arrest, doing nothing is the only way of making their situation worse.”

At the free event, members of the public can learn about cardiac arrests, find out what a defibrillator does and learn how to deliver life-saving CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Members of SWASFT, including paramedics, community first responders and responding officers, will be on hand to answer any questions and show people how to do CPR on mannequins and how to use a defibrillator. Certificates will be given to everyone who completes the 15-minute training.

Restart A Heart follows on from this summer’s Saving Lives Together/Plan Ahead campaign, which aimed to improve the confidence of bystanders to act in the event of a medical emergency, such as an out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), to give patients the best possible chance. The campaign is underpinned by clinical data from the trust:

• In the last six years, the trust has responded to and provided a resuscitation attempt for over 21,000 patients following a cardiac arrest
• 75 per cent of these patients experienced a cardiac arrest at a private location such as a home or holiday address
• Over the past six years, 65 per cent of patients who experienced an OHCA received bystander CPR before the arrival of the first ambulance response