Students from the Glasgow Dental School are taking part in World Restart A Heart Day today at the Glasgow Science Centre. The European Resuscitation Council initiative, which was unveiled in 2013, aims to raise awareness of out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and train members of the public in CPR. Last year, 185 members of the public were trained; and this year, by joining forces with Dental Schools in Dundee and Edinburgh and holding multiple events, the hope is that 400-600 people will be trained by the end of today.

The event is organised each year by the Dental School’s Lezley Ann Walker, who takes undergraduate dental students to provide opportunistic training to the visitors in a bid to build confidence and deliver a skill that will increase the likelihood of bystander CPR and ultimately increase the survival rates from out of hospital cardiac arrest. All ages are trained, from children through to adults, and everyone receives a certificate, with additional activities included to keep the children amused.

The initiative fits well into the Scottish Government Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest strategy from 2014 which aims to train 500,00 individuals by 2020, thus creating a nation of life savers which in turn hopes to save an additional 1,000 lives.  Part of this initiative includes funding to provide every local dentist with a defibrillator for use in the dental surgery and to be utilised by the general public in the event of an OHCA.

First published: 16 October 2018

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