Soccer star turned actor Vinnie Jones returned to the fray today in a new campaign aimed at persuading the public to "get tough" with heart attacks.
The British Heart Foundation marks a fresh attempt to encourage by-standers to get involved when people suffer sudden heart attacks.
The campaign, originally launched last year, urges volunteer resuscitators to use the beat of "Stayin’ Alive" by the Bee Gees for chest compressions.
Some 28 people claim their lives have been saved through the campaign – but the BHF says official figures show now sustained improvements.
In June just 58 out of 314 patients survived to leave hospital – having suffered cardiac arrest in a public place.
In the East Midlands region just 7.5% of patients survived while 33% survived in the counties of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.
BHF medical director Professor Peter Weissberg said: "Many people can survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest but only if they receive immediate CPR.
"Sadly, in the vast majority of cases in the UK this doesn’t happen. We know Hands-only CPR works but more bystanders need to step in if we’re ever to see the majority become the minority.
"The great thing about Hands-only CPR is you don’t need any special skills or to remember how to do the kiss of life. It’s simple, you can’t do any harm and you may well save a life."
One of the 28 saved by the campaign, Alan Linton, a golfer from Ladybank, Scotland, said: “To put it simply, I’m here today because of Vinnie Jones, the Bee Gees and Hands-only CPR. It must have been a frightening moment for my golfing buddies to see me collapse and stop breathing but thankfully they remembered hard and fast chest compressions.
"I’m now one of the few people in the UK who has survived a cardiac arrest this year."
Leave a Reply