People are being encouraged to sign up to save a life at Colchester Hospital next month.
Resuscitation staff from Colchester and Ipswich hospitals want to teach 300 members of the public, young and old, basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills.
The event at the site’s Iceni Centre will run between 8am and 6pm on Tuesday, 16 October, with staff able to teach 30 new people every hour.
The event is part of the annual Restart a Heart Day and, for the first time, World Restart a Heart Day which carries the motto, ‘All citizens of the world can save a life’.
Nationally the annual campaign, run by the Resuscitation Council, aims to teach more than 200,000 people on the day.
Lead resuscitation nurse Emma Thomson said: “If we are to improve survival rates of people who have a cardiac arrest away from hospital then we need to increase the number of people with basic CPR skills.
“This initiative aims to do just that. We are hoping that as many people as possible attend this amazing opportunity to help save hundreds of thousands of lives every year.”
East Suffolk & North Essex University Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) Chief Medical Officer Barbara Buckley said: “This is one of the few immediate lifesaving skills everyone should learn.
“I urge everyone to get trained as you never know when it could be your responsibility to save a life.”
The event is free and spaces are limited to 30 per hour.
There will also be a raffle and a cake stand to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).
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