EEAST video urges the public to “Be the Link” | News and events

EEAST video urges the public to “Be the Link” in helping save patients in cardiac arrest

The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) is urging more people across the region to learn CPR to help more people survive cardiac arrests.

Senior clinicians from EEAST have launched the ‘Be the Link’ video to show how you can help increase a person’s chances of survival by learning these simple skills.  

The video supports Restart a Heart Day on October 16 which encourages everyone to learn CPR.

When a person suffers a cardiac arrest early CPR and use of a defibrillator are crucial in the chain of survival – a series of critical actions that when performed timely and effectively can save the life of a person in cardiac arrest.

A total of 37% of people surveyed by the Resuscitation Council UK – who lead Restart a Heart Day – said they wouldn’t very feel very confident helping someone in cardiac arrest, while 24% said they wouldn’t be at all confident.

Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by 10% and less than one in 10 people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest – which is why it is so important that more people learn CPR to help save a life before the ambulance service arrives.  

Liz Quickenden, community response training officer at EEAST, said:

“I wanted to create this video to clearly show the importance of the chain of survival and the role that bystanders and community first responders can play in saving lives in their communities.

“It’s about showing people what they can do to support their colleagues, neighbours, friends and family members in a medical emergency.”

The video has been translated into ten different languages - including Romanian, Urdu, and Russian – to make this crucial information as accessible as possible. 

Emily Le-Gallienne, sector resuscitation officer at EEAST, said: 

“The chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has remained very low for a number of years. 

“For this to improve, we need to increase awareness of the importance of CPR training. We see much higher rates of survival in countries where community training is prioritised; therefore if we can encourage more people to learn CPR, we may save more lives.

“We also hope to address some of the health inequalities in resuscitation by providing subtitles in various languages, making our video more accessible to non-English speaking communities."

For everything you need to know to become a lifesaver, visit resus.org.uk/rsah.

If you are interested in becoming a community first responder to EEAST, please visit the Trust’s website. Find out more about volunteering with EEAST.

If you’re interested in getting training to learn CPR and how to use AEDs, or you would like to purchase an AED or cabinet, contact TrainEEAST, the commercial training arm of EEAST.