Young swimmers have been learning how to save lives thanks to our staff.
The Acute Response Team (ART) taught members of Sheerness Swimming Club how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), put people in the recovery position, and how to use a defibrillator, when they held a recent training session at Bartons Point Coastal Park in Sheerness.
ART started delivering CPR training to schools and clubs three years ago after Isla Elms, the daughter of the team’s Lead Nurse Emma Coutts, asked her mum to deliver it at her school after she started learning about the cardiovascular system.
Emma, who is also a coach for the swimming club which her daughter is a member of, said: “I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate the life-saving skills into the swimming training as someone taking part in sports activities could need CPR.
“We know that if someone experiences a cardiac arrest that bystander CPR and bystander defibrillation has a huge positive impact on the outcomes for those patients, and in some cases it really can be the difference between life and death.”
Mark Sheather, Head Coach of Sheerness Swimming Club, said: “CPR isn’t something we would teach at the club but whenever people are heavily involved in physical exercise there is always the potential they could need CPR. That’s why we were more than happy for ART to come and teach CPR to our members so they know and feel confident in how they can potentially help to save someone’s life.”
Club Captain Amelia Simpson, 17, said: “I found the CPR training session a great experience for the whole club. It’s a brilliant skill to learn and I think it’s great that ART took the time out to teach us it.
“With swimming, anything could happen in the pool so the more people around you who know CPR the safer we will be during training. It also mean we can help other people outside of training too.”
The Medway Hospital Charity purchased two small mannequins for ART to deliver the CPR training sessions to children and young people in the community. In addition, it also paid for three large mannequins so the team can deliver training to staff at Medway Maritime Hospital, which is operated by Medway NHS Foundation Trust, on how to recognise the signs of a deteriorating patient and the action they need to take.
Jayne Black, Chief Executive of the Trust, said: “Survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest remain low in the UK, with fewer than one in 10 people surviving. That’s why it’s so important that as many people as possible are trained in CPR. Well done to ART for delivering this excellent and potentially life-saving initiative to the next generation and to The Medway Hospital Charity for funding the mannequins.”
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