June 13, 2012
Mayor’s Ambassador army given our life-saving
training for 2012 Games
A thousand volunteers from Mayor of London Boris
Johnson’s Team London Ambassadors are being given our
lifesaving Heartstart training.
Help us create more
lifesavers
The first groups have now completed their
training which includes how to give cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR). In addition, they've learnt how
to use a defibrillator.
The volunteer Team London Ambassadors are
being taught the lifesaving techniques under a scheme supported by
us and developed by NHS London and the London Ambulance
Service.
The aim is to be able to give
immediate and vital emergency care while the
ambulance service is on the way.
It’s hugely reassuring to know there will be trained volunteers on the street who know what to do in an emergency
The
Ambassadors are learning
Heartstart – a
two hour lifesaving skills course devised by
us. We're also providing the
vital training
equipment.
And as part of the health legacy of
the Olympics, London Ambulance Service paramedics will
also teach around 50 Ambassadors how to deliver the two-hour Heartstart session themselves. As well
as teaching their peers ahead of the opening ceremony, these 50
volunteers will continue to teach the Heartstart course in their
local communities after the Games.
Volunteers will also be taught how to use
a defibrillator, a machine that can
save a life by delivering an electrical shock to
the heart when someone is in cardiac
arrest.
There are around 750 publically accessible
defibrillators placed in busy areas in the capital, such as tourist
attractions, shopping centres and transport links, with staff who
work there trained to use them in an emergency.
More than 10,000
defibrillators have already been placed in
the community since we started donating them in
1996.
Catherine Kelly, our Director of Prevention and Care, said:
“Knowing how to save a life is the best skill you can have. Of
course, we hope our Heartstart programme is something the
ambassadors never actually need to put into practice but it’s
hugely reassuring for the public to know there
will be trained volunteers on the street who know what to do in an
emergency.
“The fact 50 of them will train other people
in their local communities after the Games is a fantastic
legacy for London’s health.”
It costs us around
£5 to train someone through our
Heartstart programme. Donate today and
create a lifesaver.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson added: “Team
London Ambassadors will provide a highly visible network of
support throughout the Games, guiding people around the
capital, giving advice and helping out in any way they can. That so
many of them now have this potentially lifesaving knowledge is
fantastic, adding another string to their bow and providing a great
health legacy for the capital.”