Increase your skills and your confidence to act in an emergency

The current survival rate of out of hospital cardiac arrests in the UK is 7-8%. At Magpas Air Ambulance, they believe Hearts Matter and they want to change this – with your help!

There are approximately 30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests attended to by medical professionals every year, of which only 40% of victims receive bystander CPR.

Recognising a cardiac arrest, calling 999, administering CPR, and defibrillation are crucial elements of the chain of survival. Bystander CPR can double a person’s chances of survival and if someone is given defibrillation within 3-5 minutes; survival rates increase to 50% – 70%.

Dean was just 31 when he suffered a cardiac arrest…

“I’d had my wedding suit fitting that morning and was driving back home with my fiancée, Kim, and our five kids. As I turned into our road I went into cardiac arrest at the wheel.

The car crashed into someone’s driveway. Luckily no-one was hurt but Dawn, our neighbour, saw it happen and ran to help. We’d never spoken before, but she gave me CPR until a passing off-duty paramedic stopped to help and the emergency services arrived, including Magpas Air Ambulance.”

The day is still fresh in Dawn’s mind, she recalls, “I can remember hearing the bang and seeing the crashed car. I went over with a couple of other neighbours; made sure the children were alright and turned my attention to Dean. I could see he was dying and there were no first aiders around so I stepped in, I had to compose myself and take control, we got him out of the car and I started performing CPR. I’d had training in the past so had an idea of what to do – it was so different doing it for real but that didn’t matter; I was determined to give it my best. I couldn’t let Dean or his loved ones down.”

The Magpas medical team flew to Dean and, because he had received good quality CPR straight away, were able to provide him with further lifesaving care. They placed him in a medically induced coma at the scene to protect his brain and take over his breathing before taking him to hospital for additional treatment.

Dean continues, “Luckily we didn’t need to change our wedding date and Kim and I were married 6 months later! To make the day even more special Dawn and her husband, now good family friends of ours came too.

If it wasn’t for her initial help before the professionals could take over, I probably wouldn’t even be here, yet alone married, so it seemed only right for Dawn to celebrate with us.”

Kim sums up, “I am so grateful to Dawn for stepping up and using her skills when time was against us – I myself was untrained at the time and had no idea what to do. Thankfully, Dean, our children and I are all now fully trained in CPR as we now realise the vital importance of these lifesaving skills.

Thanks to Dawn and her bystander CPR, and the hospital level care Magpas Air Ambulance provided, I now have a husband and our children still have a father.”

Magpas Air Ambulance Critical Care Paramedic Sally Boor, one of the medics who flew to Dean that day, stresses the importance of learning this lifesaving skill; “I think a lot of people underestimate how crucial their actions are when somebody goes into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital, but for every person who survives, there is a hero in the community who has helped them.”

At Magpas Air Ambulance, they want everyone to have the confidence and knowledge to intervene when someone is suffering a cardiac arrest, to provide them with CPR and to deploy a defibrillator in the vital minutes before the emergency services arrive. To make this a reality, they have launched their own community training session, Hearts Matter – Community CPR, which is available to schools, businesses, and community groups across Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire – FOR FREE.

Find out more and enquire today at: https://www.magpas.org.uk/heartsmatter/