When someone suffers a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), every second counts. Immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can double or even triple the chances of survival. By manually pumping the chest, CPR keeps blood, and with it, oxygen, flowing to the brain and vital organs until further help arrives.

But here’s the key question: is CPR alone enough to bring someone back?

Every year on 29 September, millions of people around the globe mark World Heart Day - a campaign led by the World Heart Federation to raise awareness of cardiovascular diseases, the world’s leading cause of death.

For us at Imperative Training, it’s more than just a date on the calendar. It’s a reminder that the skills you learn in a First Aid course could one day mean the difference between life and death.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is among the biggest killers of young people in the UK, with 12 people under the age of 35 dying from SCA each week in our country (Cardiac Risk in the Young). With so many healthy young people losing their lives every year, it is only natural that a huge effort is taken to combat this as a nation.

Sadly, we can not yet effectively predict cardiac arrest in many cases, meaning that the best we can do is be prepared to take action when someone has suffered a cardiac arrest. This means having a defibrillator nearby and people who are confident in using one - for children and teenagers, they spend most of their young lives in school, so AEDs in schools just make sense.

An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is a life-saving piece of equipment used to shock someone who is in cardiac arrest. An AED is the only definitive treatment for someone in cardiac arrest and can increase survival rates from below 10% to over 74% if used promptly.

An AED is only effective when used within minutes of collapse, for this reason it is vital that anyone responding to a cardiac arrest has the confidence to act decisively.

For Restart a Heart Day 2024, Imperative Training along with our partners at defibshop and North West Ambulance Service, set up at the Trafford Centre