St John Welcomes Campaign to Learn CPR

4th January 2012

St John Welcomes Campaign to Learn CPR

St John Wales has welcomed the British Heart Foundation’s campaign encouraging more people to perform CPR.

The BHF is urging anyone who does not have CPR training to ignore the kiss of life in favour of hard and fast compressions in the centre of the chest.

A new poll conducted across the UK and involving 2,000 respondents showed nearly half were put off from performing CPR because of a lack of knowledge.

St John Wales Chief Executive Keith Dunn supports the campaign for more people to learn CPR but said a combination of rescue breaths and chest compressions remains the preferred method and encourages members of the public who aren't confident to deliver first aid to attend a course to improve their skills.

He said: "People who are not trained in CPR could be the difference between life and death by carrying out chest compressions on cardiac arrest victims, yet currently too many people are dying because not enough people know what to do.

"Encouraging untrained bystanders to carry out chest compressions is something St John Wales supports but we also encourage more people to acquire broader first aid knowledge including full CPR as this still gives people the best chance to live."

For information on first aid courses visit www.sjaw.co.uk or for a free pocket first aid guide call 02920 449500.