CPR? – Get to the heart of it at the Cheese & Grain

As part of their ongoing outreach programme, the Friends of Frome Hospital have announced that they will be staging another public CPR/Defibrillator awareness session this summer, in support of their Community Defibrillator Scheme, to be held at the Cheese & Grain during Saturday morning of 29th June.

Although final details have yet to be confirmed it should follow a similar format as the previous annual events with two separate demonstrations, normally at 10am and 11am by approved South West Ambulance First Responders.

On announcing the event, Derek Trick, Project Leader for the Frome Community Defibrillator Scheme, said “This is an early call for people to note this in their diaries to visit us at the Cheese & Grain. These sessions are always well attended and provide a vital ‘life education lesson’ on how to manage a situation in the event of someone having a cardiac arrest. 

“It is estimated that 60,000 people a year in the UK suffer from one of these life-threatening traumas, at home, out and about at work or at play. It can happen to anyone, of any age, at any time, and anywhere. It is so important to have the basic knowledge on how to quickly respond to help save a life. 

“Well over a thousand people have attended our previous CPR awareness events, and we do appeal for people to find an hour to sit in on one of these sessions. This is a totally ‘free’ event for the public, but we do close entry after the start of each session so not to disturb the training team as they proceed through the ‘start to finish’ scenario of a cardiac trauma” 

In the Frome area the Friends of Frome Hospital have installed 23 publicly available defibrillators (PAD) which are accessible via a call to the 999 emergency services. The state-of-the-art defibrillators are specifically designed for use for people with little or no knowledge of medical procedures. Once the PAD has been brought to the patient, it will talk and instruct the helper throughout the incident until paramedics arrive on the scene.  

As well as the annual public awareness events, the Friends also provide CPR training at the Town’s middle school academies. Approximately 1,000 children have benefitted from these sessions.