Learning How To Use a Defibrillator From the Experts at Heartwize
- 28th Mar 2024
- Author: Elliott Langley - Marketing Administrator
We welcome a lot of people through our doors at the National Space Centre, and it’s really important to us that we do everything we can to ensure that our visitors are safe. With such a huge number of people coming to learn about space, we have to be aware of what to do in case somebody falls ill during their time with us. We have an amazing team of First Aiders who are fully trained and ready to go in the event that someone needs help, as well as our dedicated Health and Safety team.
Our Health and Safety Officer, Katrina, recently organised for the team from Heartwize to visit us and spend time training our First Aiders on what to do in the event of someone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest.
Heartwize is a charity that formed in 2014 with the noble goal of creating a “generation of lifesavers”. From CPR to AEDs, Heartwize make it their mission to educated schools, communities, and groups in how to provide life support in the case of an emergency.
“They reached out to me last year and said they wanted to run a training session for us,” Katrina told me. “They had been focusing on Leicestershire recently and wanted to work with businesses and schools in the county to offer them sessions. We caught their eye because we’re an educational charity and welcome so many schools here.”
“It came at a really good time, as several of our First Aiders had expressed a desire to be trained on how to use a defibrillator,” Katrina explained. "It’s really important that someone having a cardiac arrest is given treatment as soon as possible; every moment counts. The more people on site who know how to use it, the better, as those first few minutes can make such a big difference.”
Our First Aid room is equipped with a registered AED (Automated External Defibrillator), the same type of defibrillator that can often be seen in public places and venues, and is registered on The Circuit – the national defibrillator network.
“It’s really important that someone having a cardiac arrest is given treatment as soon as possible; every moment counts,” said Katrina. “The more people on site who know how to use it, the better, as those first few minutes can make such a big difference.”
After a meeting where Heartwize pitched the training session to Katrina and how it could benefit everyone both working here and visiting, a session with our First Aiders was organised and a date was booked.
“I requested a few specific topics to be covered,” Katrina said. “I really wanted to focus on being inclusive when using a defibrillator, as statistically people are often less confident in using a defibrillator on people from different genders. They were really helpful and came up with a great training session for the team.”
The session took place on 27 March and saw all of our First Aiders given the opportunity to practice applying a defibrillator to a dummy. The session also covered basic facts about cardiac arrest, including signs and symptoms to look out for, as well as the correct procedure to follow should someone be experiencing an arrest, including the recovery position.
“Everyone said it was really helpful and insightful,” Katrina said. “We started off with just the First Aiders as a small group, but we’ve opened this up to all staff so that anyone who wants to learn has the opportunity to do so.”
More sessions are being planned with Heartwize, so that more of our team will be ready to use our defibrillator should we ever need to. In the meantime, our First Aiders are on hand to help visitors however they can. If you ever do feel unwell during your time at the National Space Centre, then please do talk to any of our staff, as we are here to help.
Huge thanks to Katrina and to all the team at Heartwize for taking the time to train our staff and help us take care of visitors. Vist their website to learn more about cardiac arrests and what you should do in the event that yourself or someone around you experiences one.
