World Restart A Heart Day is celebrated on 16th October, aiming to raise awareness on the appropriate response to someone experiencing cardiac arrest.

On this day, the Malta Resuscitation Council (MRC), together with its partners in the European Resuscitation Council, emphasise the importance of safe, immediate and effective use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for those whose heart suddenly stops beating outside a hospital setting.

This year’s theme was “Resuscitation for all!” with an outreach training campaign taking place within residential centres for the migrant population in Malta.

MRC was assisted by the Primary Care resuscitation committee for training provision as well as UNHCR for translation purposes.

Children of all ages, parents and young adults joined with a keen interest in acquiring skills of how to save a life in cases of finding a person in cardiac arrest or coming across a person who is choking.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in over 300,000 people in Europe every year, and yet bystander CPR is only initiated in less than half of these cases. Every second counts.

Every second that the brain spends without blood delivering oxygen and nutrients dramatically increases the risk of death or permanent brain damage in survivors. Prompt bystander CPR keeps that oxygen flowing and can boost survival with a good outcome by as much as threefold.

The Malta Resuscitation Council encourages everyone in our communities to learn and administer CPR.

“Basic Life Support Courses teach the correct and safe delivery of CPR which can mean the difference between life and death for a close relative or a total stranger who may be lucky enough to be resuscitated by a trained bystander,” it said.

“Anyone can learn CPR, including young children and through our campaign “Kids save Lives” we reiterate our firm conviction that CPR training should be part of the National Curriculum.”

The heart can be ‘kick-started’ in three simple steps – CHECK. CALL. COMPRESS.

Firstly, CHECK safely whether an unresponsive victim is breathing or not.

If not responding or breathing, CALL 112 immediately for help.

Using both your bare hands COMPRESS rapidly and deeply on the chest to get blood circulating and buy time until the emergency services arrive. With these three actions, anyone can save a life.

World Restart a Heart Day helps to increase awareness of the essential nature of bystander CPR. Spread the word, enrol in a CPR course today, and you too can be someone’s hero.

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