Northern Ireland Council Restart Heart Day

Mid Ulster District Council, in partnership with the Northern and Southern Health and Social Care Trusts, and supported by The British Heart Foundation NI, The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and the Cormac Trust, is holding Restart a Heart day on 18 October to provide free CPR and De-fib training to as many people as possible in the district!



The training will provide participants with the knowledge and skills to deal effectively with emergency situations. Participants can choose to attend either a morning or an evening session: 10am-12pm at Dungannon Leisure Centre, Cookstown Leisure Centre and Greenvale Leisure Centre, Magherafelt and 6.30pm-8.30pm at Dungannon Leisure Centre and the new events space at the Hill of The O’Neill, Dungannon.



Each session will be delivered by local CPR volunteers organised through the Health Trusts. Community and voluntary organisations, sports clubs, workplaces, and anyone else who would like to learn how to correctly perform CPR in the event of a cardiac arrest, are being urged to attend.



Training will also be delivered to participating Year 10 pupils at Post Primary Schools across the district on the day.



The main aim of the day is to increase awareness of the importance of bystander CPR to increase the chance of survival when someone has a cardiac arrest. Each year in Northern Ireland there are around 1,400 out of hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs).



OHCAs can occur in homes and public spaces. Every minute counts when someone has an OHCA: every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chances of survival by up to 10%. But many people simply don’t have the skills and confidence to step in and help, and this training will provide these vital skills.



The Chair of Mid Ulster District Council, Councillor Trevor Wilson, said, “I am delighted the Council, in partnership with other agencies, has organised the Restart a Heart day in October to help deliver vital CPR training to as many people as possible across the district. The fact the training is free will hopefully be a great enticement for people to come out and attend one of the sessions available on the day.



“Ambulance response times have historically been longer in Mid Ulster, largely due to the rurality of the area. This training would be extremely beneficial in helping to manage situations until the ambulance arrive at the scene and could result in many more lives being saved. I urge all community and voluntary organisations, businesses, sports clubs, and anyone else who wishes to avail of this worthwhile opportunity, to register to take part, it could possibly save a life in the future!”



Restart a Heart Day is an annual European initiative which aims to raise awareness of the importance of bystander Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and is part of a wider action plan on Community Resuscitation and defibrillators being led by the council.



To register for the training on Tuesday 18 October, contact Sam Scott at Mid Ulster District Council on 03000 132 132 or email health.wellbeing@midulstercouncil.org.



Phots Caption: Chair of Mid Ulster District Council, Councillor Trevor Wilson is pictured performing a CPR procedure at Lafarge Cement, Cookstown, one of the businesses signed up to the valuable training, with Russell Larmour, Plant Manager, Una O’Kane, Mid Ulster District Council and staff from Lafarge.



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