HIGH schools in Redditch are being urged to sign up to a new scheme offering every pupil the chance to learn emergency life support (ELS) skills.
The initiative, a partnership between the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service NHS Trust (HWAS), will provide free training and teaching resources to schools so they can train their own students.
About 270,000 people suffer a heart attack in the UK each year, about a third of whom die before reaching hospital due to cardiac arrest. In the year to March 2004, HWAS attended more than 6,000 cardiac cases.
ELS is a simple set of actions needed to keep someone alive until professional help arrives.
Russell B Hamilton, chief executive of Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service, said: "We're very pleased to be working with the BHF.
"In cardiac cases, it is extremely important the patient gets treatment as promptly as possible and we'd encourage local schools to get involved in the Heartstart UK programme."
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