Free First Aid course in Redditch will help save lives (From Redditch Advertiser)
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Free First Aid course in Redditch will help save lives
7:30am Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News
A NEW course is being launched in Redditch which will help Redditc residents save the lives of others.
A First Aid course will take place on Saturday, February 9 at 10am and Tuesday, March 5 at 6.30pm at Batchley Community Centre, and will be conducted by West Midlands Ambulance Service.
These will be free basic life support sessions and will teach people how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).
The more people that would like to attend, the more dates that will be added.
More than 100,000 people a year in the UK suffer a cardiac arrest, also an average of 19 children die each week in UK schools.A spokesman said: “The survival rate outside of the hospital setting is only five per cent, but by knowing how to do effective CPR will increase this figure.
“Without a defibrillator available your chances are only five per cent but with one, and CPR, the chances increase to approx 75-80 per cent.”
Although the course is free, particpants are invited to make a small donation, in order for more defibrillators to be installed in Redditch by campaigners and supporters of cardiac charity SADS UK.
Anyone interested in attending the course can visit the Redditch Heart Safe page on Facebook, leaving their details and their intention to attend, or sign up at Batchley community centre, so organisers can get a feel for how popular this course will be.
One of the organisers behind the training, Robert Underwood, has been a staunch campaigner for SADS UK following the sudden death of his 16-year-old daughter Charlotte from SADS (sudden arhtythmic death syndrome) in 2010.
