Centre for Excellence Community CPR
Everyone can save a life by learning CPR. Everyone can use a defibrillator to save a life.
An easy way to learn is to spend a few minutes watching and listening to our life-saving films. These films have been prepared by our clinical community lead, Adam Carr. Adam is an experienced critical care paramedic who developed a passion for educating the public to do CPR and use a defibrillator as he saw so many people who could have benefited from this, but where this was not done.
Flight paramedic Adam Carr says: ”It is heartbreaking to see cases where families wished they had learned CPR when it was too late. In 5 minutes, you can learn to save a life of a loved one. There is no better gift anyone can give’.
We would like everyone in Essex and Hertfordshire to learn how to do CPR, and to use a defibrillator. Our school CPR Champion programme, called CPR Smart™, is an evidence-based approach that targets the teaching of CPR of schoolchildren, in the knowledge that this is one of the most effective ways of changing outcomes.
We support the strategy of the ‘Kids Save Lives’ strategy of the European Resuscitation Council.
We’re training CPR Champions – teachers and sixth formers throughout Essex and Hertfordshire.
- We support our CPR Champions in giving them the confidence and expertise to train others in CPR
- We know that our CPR Champions will go on to teach others, who will in turn, teach others
- We know that our CPR Champions will help give the patients of the future a chance of survival
Every year, we support the international ‘Restart a Heart Day’ event held on the 16 October. We are passionate about helping more people realise that anyone can save a life, often of your family and loved ones. Our teams have trained thousands of people across the region, but we want to do much more to help.
As a life-saving charity, our frontline teams are trained in the most advanced of resuscitation techniques and deliver their expertise by helicopter and fast response car.
Everyone employed at EHAAT, even those who work to support our charity behind the scenes, is trained to use a defibrillator and perform CPR. We hope that every workplace in Essex and Hertfordshire is able to offer this to their teams. At the very least, we would recommend that every employer in the region finds a very small amount of time for your colleagues to watch our life-saving videos, perhaps at the start or end of a team meeting. This really could make a difference to a friend, colleague or family member.
Dolly McPherson, and the Quality of Bystander CPR
Scientifically studying the effectiveness of interventions following sudden cardiac arrest is complex, yet fascinating. There are many factors that determine a successful outcome, importantly including the reason that cardiac arrest occurred. We know that by far the next biggest determinant of a successful outcome is the delivery of CPR and defibrillation by bystanders. Anyone can do this, and it is vital that everyone learns how to do CPR.
Very few studies mention the quality of bystander CPR. Although we would encourage everyone to perform CPR when it is needed, it is clear that the quality of this CPR varies from case to case. If the quality of CPR varies then we would expect outcomes to vary as a result, yet to date there is no agreed measure of the quality of CPR in the published literature.
Dolly is working with us to help describe the quality of CPR with the aim that this description is used in scientific studies in the future. In 2024, she was successful in securing a Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship at Anglia Ruskin University. EHAAT and Anglia Ruskin University are providing joint funding for this project.
Dolly is working with Dr Sarah McLachlan, Professor Hilary Bungay from the Anglia Ruskin University Faculty of Health, Medicine & Social Care, and Associate Professor Thomas Keeble, consultant cardiologist from the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre at Basildon Hospital. Dolly works regularly with cardiac arrest patients, and our clinical community lead, Adam Carr, to make sure that her work is focused on achieving the correct goals.
In 2023 we collaborated with Medical XR to commence work on the role of Virtual Reality CPR (VRCPR) in education. We believe that the use of this technology will exponentially increase the number of people to whom CPR and defibrillation training can be delivered. The use of this VR in school-level education has been well described, and there is increased interest in this approach for emergency care.
Embracing VR technology in CPR education will help save lives and prepare the next generation for assisting family, friends and even strangers where they most need it.
Nadine Aburumman is our Fellow in Virtual Reality.