St John Guernsey Volunteers and staff from the Emergency Ambulance Service have been working with the Guernsey Cardiac Action Group this week to teach islanders CPR and AED skills during “Restart A Heart Week”.

The free events took place at Community Centres across the island all week.

The one hour sessions gave people a chance to practice CPR and learn how to use an AED.

Attendees also found out about the location of the Public Access Defibrillator sites around Guernsey.

On World Restart A Heart Day (Tuesday 16th October) a public outdoor demonstration took place in Smith Street, St Peter Port.

Students at the College of FE also benefited from free training.

The events attracted lots of media interest which also helped get the message out to the public that anyone can do CPR and use an AED.

Statistics show that a patients chances of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is just 10%. Early CPR, early defibrillation, and early advanced care can significantly improve survival chances.

Restart A Heart Day takes place every year on October 16th. It started as a European project but 2018 saw the first Worldwide event.