Today (Tuesday 16 October) is Restart a Heart Day 2018, which aims to raise awareness about cardiac arrest and increase bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

As part of the initiative, the Irish Heart Foundation is partnering with the HSE National Ambulance Service to provide CPR awareness, familiarisation, and training sessions across the country.

This will be in partnership with HSE resuscitation training officers, Irish Heart Foundation CPR instructors, Community First Responders, the voluntary and auxiliary ambulance services, and the Prehospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC).

Last year, more than 1,000 HSE staff attended CPR sessions in HSE venues. This year the HSE is extending the invitation to the general public.

The Irish Heart Foundation, through its CPR instructor network, has trained 120,000 people in life-saving CPR in the past 12 months, setting a new record.

The figure of 120,000 is a significant increase on the 80,000 trained between 01 July 2016 and 30 June 2017, and almost double the 65,000 trained in the same period in 2015/2016.
Of the 120,000 trained in the last 12 months, almost a third or 44,000, were trained by the Irish Heart Foundation’s CPR 4 Schools programme while the remainder were trained by 2,145 Irish Heart Foundation CPR instructors at 196 affiliated training sites throughout the country.

Welcoming Restart a Heart Day 2018, Brigid Sinnott, BLS Coordinator with the Irish Heart Foundation said, “with more than 70 per cent of all cardiac arrests happening in the home we want everyone in Ireland to be able to do CPR. Restart a heart day is to encourage everyone to get the opportunity to practice on a manikin. By recognising a cardiac arrest early and starting CPR immediately you can double or triple a person’s chances of survival from a cardiac arrest.”

This Restart a Heart Day is your chance to learn or relearn a lifesaving skill. Even if you attended last year or are CPR trained, this is a great opportunity to come along and practice your CPR skills
Booking is free – and you might just save a life. Click here to book your place at one of the free Restart a Heart Day events.