Resources for Press

Every week in Scotland 70 people will have a sudden cardiac arrest. That’s a little more than a full double decker bus load. It can happen to anyone. Any age. Any time. In 2015 only 4 of these 70 people survived to go home to their families. The good news is the number of survivors is on the rise. Our video produced with the pupils of Westquarter Primary School, Falkirk in 2016 provides more information view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8iEHdewZJw

Cardiac arrest means the heart has stopped beating. No blood is flowing to the brain and other vital organs and without immediate action death occurs in a few minutes.

The great news is you can do something about this.

Every year around 3,200 Scottish people of all ages and backgrounds have resuscitation attempted after their heart stops suddenly and unexpectedly – they suffer a cardiac arrest. Currently only 1 in 10 survive. In areas of the world where bystander CPR is the norm, up to 20% of people go home alive after cardiac arrest. We aim to help save 1000 lives by the end of 2026 by equipping an additional 1,000,000 people living in Scotland with CPR skills. Bystander CPR means that the person who is beside the person who has had a cardiac arrest pushes hard and fast on their chest until help arrives from the Ambulance service. If you don’t do CPR then the chances of that person surviving drop by 10% with every minute that passes.

Save a Life for Scotland launched in October 2015 (you can view the launch video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stv37l-rIzs) and is a collaboration of emergency services (Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Fire and Rescue Services, Medical Defence Services and Police Scotland), third sector organisations (The British Heart Foundation including Heartstart, Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland, Royal Life Saving Society Scotland, British Red Cross, St Andrew’s First Aid, St John Scotland, East Neuk First Responders and Lucky 2 B Here), The Resuscitation Research Group Edinburgh, community groups, local authorities, academics, industry partners and the Scottish Government. A movement of people who believe that the status quo can’t be allowed to continue, and that together we can do what we haven’t been able to do separately. Our aim is to change the culture of ‘what’s the point they all die’ or ‘I can’t do anything to help’ to ‘I’ll do it’.

Effective CPR can be taught in less than 20 minutes, so it doesn’t really take long at all to learn how to help save someone’s life.

We realise that people living in Scotland have understandable fears or concerns about doing CPR and we have created a video to help ‘bust the myths’. It can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gphNratCPGc

The general assumption is that if you are going to use CPR, it will be to help a stranger, but the truth is you are much more likely to need it for a loved one, a friend or family member as research shows that most cardiac arrests happen in the home. We also know that cardiac arrests happen most in areas of deprivation and that those who live in those areas are least likely to know CPR. We’re really keen that those areas who need the most support get it.

Recognising someone is having a cardiac arrest, calling 999 and starting CPR as soon as possible really can increase the chance of that person surviving. It is internationally recognised that bystander CPR can improve the chances of someone surviving by between 2 and 3 times. People who have learned CPR are more likely to know how to react to a cardiac arrest and be willing to start CPR.

There are lots of opportunities to learn CPR in communities across Scotland and we can help you find them. Every fire station in Scotland also holds equipment to help you learn CPR from The British Heart Foundation that is free for you to access. Our website has a postcode search which provides local contacts. We can also support schools to teach their pupils CPR. Find out more on our resources page: https://savealife.scot/resources/resources-for-schools/

Best of all, It’s all free of charge!

The power to save lives is in our hands. Be one of the 1,000,000. Visit https://savealife.scot/learn-cpr/

Please get in touch hello@savealife.scot for more information.