EMAS teaches hundreds lifesaving skills

The East Midlands is now a safer place to be in due to the number of residents who now have emergency life saving skills, thanks to East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS).

In the last 12 months, EMAS has provided Emergency Life Saving Skills training for more than 369 people in 30 sessions so more lives can be saved in an emergency.

The course (an initiative coordinated by the British Heart Foundation) teaches members of the public what to do in a life-threatening emergency – simple, easy-to-learn skills that save lives. It includes how to recognise a heart attack, how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), dealing with choking, serious bleeding and an unconscious casualty.

Annie Palmer, EMAS Membership Manager organised the course and taught the lifesaving skills. She said:

“Being able to do CPR on someone in cardiac arrest more than doubles their chance of survival. Seconds count and if you can do CPR, you can buy the time needed for our ambulance crews to arrive and safe the life of your loved one.

“Everyone has a role to play in an emergency and giving first aid within the first few minutes of an incident can genuinely mean the difference between life and death.

“Having people in rural areas, communities with poor road networks or traffic congestion, and where large crowds gather are all places where people trained in emergency life-saving skills are needed the most. Most cardiac arrests occur out-of-hospital and survival is more likely if each link in the ‘chain of survival’ is strong.

“I have also trained 170 people in Healthy Living Awareness, discussing how the hear works and discussing modifications people can make to their lifestyles to help their heart.”

EMAS provides Emergency Life Saving Skills training and healthy living guidance across the East Midlands. For information on future dates and venues, please see EMAS