Blog

More than a thousand people have been taught CPR during an event at Stansted Airport.

Medical staff at Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) taught 1,208 passengers and staff the life-saving technique from 04:00 BST on Thursday until 22:00 BST.

They well surpassed the number they hit during the first session at the airport last year, which was about 700 people during a 10-hour shift.

Adam Carr, who is EHAAT’s critical care paramedic, said: “Learning CPR is essential, everyone should do it. It’s such a simple thing to do but it can be the difference between life and death.”

The event was timed with the national Restart a Heart Day, led by healthcare charity Resuscitation Council UK.

Mr Carr said there had been three cardiac arrests at Stansted in the past year, in which staff helped save lives.

One of those passengers made a full recovery after the incident at a check-in desk, Mr Carr explained.

Alison Newman, 64, from Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire, suffered a cardiac arrest in August 2021 and was one of the airport staff learning CPR.

“My daughter rang 999 and they told her to start CPR, which she did for six minutes before the paramedics arrived,” she said.

“It’s such a simple procedure – the more people that learn it, the more people will survive these type of cardiac events.”

Patricia was another who learned CPR along with her eight-year-old daughter Aleksandra and said she found the experience “very helpful”.

“If my daughter needed to act in such a case, she would know what to do,” she said.

Becca Dow, who organised the event, said: “It’s successfully shown that we are able to help people who suffer from a real-life cardiac arrest.”

Through EHAAT’s CPR Smart programme, it aims to ensure every child in Essex and Hertfordshire leaves school knowing how to perform CPR.