On Saturday, we ran Start a Heart day at Selsey Town Hall. The aim of this day was to encourage local residents to feel confident and able to use a Defibrillator and give CPR.

Selsey has 9 Community First Responders (CFRs) who are here to respond to emergency
ambulance calls of the most urgent nature. We can often be at the scene well before the ambulance has fought its way from Chichester to get here.

As well as these volunteers, we have, through the generosity of Selsey residents, funded over 24 Public Access Defibrillators (PADs) which you may recognise as the yellow box attached to buildings. That makes us possibly the best-served town in the country per head of population. These PADs enable residents to step in and help those in cardiac arrest - a time-critical emergency.

A challenge we have, is to enable people to feel confident about using them.
On Saturday 17th February, Selsey Community First Responders carried out the first
‘Start a Heart day’. 60 residents signed up to attend this event – and 60 residents
came.

Each person was given a card with the essential steps of CPR (Cardio Pulmonary
Resuscitation) and went through a demonstration and explanation of the core actions to take in the event of finding someone in Cardiac Arrest. Then everyone got to have a go, with an expert CFR to guide them on how well they were carrying out the procedure.

This interactive session, where each person watched or participated a number of times, should serve to give them the confidence to ‘step forward’ should they discover an unconscious patient on the street – something that MOST people experience during their lifetime.

The fundraising team of Jean and Audrey kindly provided refreshments on the day,
Gary, our chairman, welcomed people to the event, Malcolm represented Secamb, the South East Coast Ambulance Service and Nigel facilitated the sessions supported by: Frank, Phil, Kerry, Michelle, Mark, Dave and Dani – just some of the CFR team.

The overwhelming response to the day was that it really helped people to feel confident in an emergency. Some volunteered to have a PAD on their house and hopefully there may be some people who will apply to become a CFR as a result of the day.