Simple skills save lives

How to set up a Heartstart programme in your school

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The BHF is the nation’s heart charity. We fund pioneering research, provide vital information, and care for heart patients and their families, saving and improving lives every day.

We aim to significantly improve the chances of survival for people who suffer a cardiac arrest* in the community. We promote emergency life support (ELS) training through Heartstart and we fund automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for ambulance services, volunteer groups and GPs.

But we need your help to save more lives. We hope you’ll share our vision of a world where lives are not needlessly lost in the community, and help us by enabling more and more people to learn crucial ELS skills.

heartstart and the british heart foundation (BHF)

We believe that the Heartstart initiative is an invaluable part of the fight against heart disease. Over three quarters of a million children have attended a Heartstart course and we believe that every one has done something extraordinary.

* A cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping and the person stops breathing normally.

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ELS is the set of actions needed to help keep someone alive until professional help arrives. It includes performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which is chest compressions and rescue breathing.

Other actions include dealing with choking and serious bleeding and how to recognise the signs and symptoms of a heart attack*.

Life-threatening emergencies are common. But many more people can be saved if simple life-saving skills are performed immediately by someone at the scene.

Throughout the UK, Heartstart schemes are teaching ELS skills and lives are being saved. The need has never been greater.

what is emergency life support (els)?

• Every year around 140,000 people in the UK suffer a heart attack.

• Many of these people then suffer a cardiac arrest and die before reaching hospital.

• Without resuscitation, cardiac arrest is always fatal.

• Performing CPR immediately can double the chances of survival.

You could save someone’s life, someone you love. You can help someone out, it’s fun and it’s not difficult, it could save a life.Secondary school student

* A heart attack is when a part of the heart muscle is suddenly starved of blood and cell death occurs.

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“I know how to put someone in the recovery position.”

Learning how to save someone’slife can take just two hours

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Heartstart is a BHF initiative which aims to teach people what to do in a life-threatening emergency.

Each Heartstart schools programme operates independently and is designed to help children and young people learn ELS – simple skills that can save lives.

Heartstart provides schools like yours with a complete ELS course (the Heartstart course), a training course for instructors (usually teachers), and a wide range of resources to help you teach your students these vital skills.

With new potential trainees arriving every year, and staff with established teaching skills, schools are the ideal environment for sustainable ELS training.

Through Heartstart, we hope to fulfil our aim of creating a new generation of life-savers.

what is hearstart?

We also support Heartstart schemes in the community. If you have links with any local organisations in your area, please let them know about Heartstart too. For more information about community schemes please contact us. Contact details are on page 14 of this leaflet.

Heartstart is already a success – 20% of Heartstart schools have reported that their ELS trainees have used their skills in a real life situation. But we need you to join us and help your students learn what to do in an emergency.

Students really enjoy doing the programme, they tell a lot of stories about what’s happened to them.School sports coach

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Children are sometimes present at accidents and emergencies and, if they’re properly trained, are often as capable of applying ELS as adults.

By acting promptly they can prevent disability and help save lives. Children from as young as ten can learn the complete range of ELS skills, and many of the skills can be learnt by much younger children.

Why teach Els to children?

The programme can enhance various parts of the curriculum too, eg, Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship, Science and Physical Education. It can also be integrated into Healthy Schools Programmes, after school clubs, and community link programmes.

Students learned how the heart and lungs work through hands-on simulation with the manikins.Secondary school science teacher

What are the benefits?As well as learning ELS, there are other benefits for your students and your school:

• Heartstart programmes can promote community spirit, inclusiveness, and individual self-esteem.

• Learning ELS gives students confidence, by preparing them to cope with emergency situations.

• The active hands-on approach of the course appeals to students of all ages.

• Students who may not necessarily always excel academically often shine in Heartstart programmes.

• Heartstart enhances your students’ life skills – and it’s fun. Younger children especially enjoy the role-play.

• Most students respond well to the implied responsibility of being able to save a life.

• Students’ enthusiasm can carry over into other subjects, helping them understand the links between classroom learning and their own lives outside the classroom.

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“We know what to do when someone’s choking.”

Students in one in five Heartstart schools in the UK have helped in a real-life situation

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To run a Heartstart programme your school will need to affiliate to Heartstart. Affiliation is free, and there are many benefits, including:

How to become a heartstart school

• a specialised ELS course package

• award-winning educational and support materials

• resuscitation training manikins and consumables

• reimbursement of supply cover costs for initial instructor training

• students’ attendance certificates

• free public liability and personal accident insurance for your instructors.

Getting affiliated is easy – just call or email us (contact details are on page 14 of this leaflet) and we’ll send you a Heartstart toolkit. It gives you all the information you need to become a Heartstart school.

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Assembling your team

Heartstart schools need to appoint:

• a Programme Coordinator

• a Training Supervisor

• at least two instructors.

Your Programme Coordinator is responsible for:

• keeping training records

• keeping evidence that your instructors have successfully completed the instructor training course

• keeping in touch with the BHF.

how to get started

Your Training Supervisor advises on ELS training and oversees the quality of the Heartstart programme. They must be suitably qualified and experienced to train and assess your instructors (you’ll find details in the Heartstart toolkit). Their responsibilities are:

• teaching the instructor training course to prospective instructors

• assessing prospective instructors

• providing course records for the Programme Coordinator

• keeping in touch with the school to provide support to instructors and organise refresher training

• keeping the programme up-to-date on Resuscitation Council (UK) guidelines.

Your instructors teach the Heartstart course to your students. Instructors are usually teachers. However, they can also come from outside the school, eg, local community Heartstart schemes, ambulance services or first aid training organisations. Senior students can also sign up and assist in teaching the course as peer tutors.

We recommend a maximum of 15 students to one instructor.

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“I know how to call 999.”

Even children as young as five can help to save someone’s life

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Deciding on your course delivery option/s

There are two options, to give you the maximum flexibility in fitting the course into your curriculum.

The complete Heartstart course is designed for ten year-olds and above, and can be taught in as little as two hours, although most schools teach the course in five or six lessons.

We highly recommend extending the course in this way as it allows for as much hands-on practice time as possible. Choose this option if you want to teach the course to specific year groups.

The staged-age related programme allows you to teach parts of the programme to different year groups in a staged, progressive way. The programme is split into seven age-related sessions for students of five and above, each of which is progressively more advanced and includes revision.

There are detailed examples of both options in the Heartstart toolkit.

It’s not just sitting about and listening – you get up and do stuff, it’s fun.Primary school student

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Course contentWhichever option you choose, your students will learn when and how to act in a life-threatening emergency.

The programme content focuses on the practical skills of ELS, providing maximum time for practice and hands-on learning using resuscitation training manikins*.

Learning outcomes

Your students will learn how to:

• assess a conscious or unconscious casualty

• make a 999/112 call

• demonstrate the recovery position

• open an airway

• check for normal breathing

• perform CPR (chest compressions and rescue breathing) on an adult. For over-10s only

• demonstrate the management of choking for adults, infants and children

• manage someone with a suspected heart attack

• deal with serious bleeding.

* a manikin is a model of part of the human body used to practise ELS techniques.

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Equipment

The number of resuscitation manikins you’ll need will depend on the number of students you intend to train each session, and the number of instructors available.

Following Resuscitation (UK) guidelines, we recommend one manikin to two students.

Initially, we’ll order manikins for you and supply them free. We’ll also order and pay for the consumables (eg, replacement lungs and cleaning wipes) you’ll need in your first affiliation year.

Training your trainers

Instructors have to be trained, assessed and approved by your Training Supervisor before they can teach the Heartstart course.

There’s detailed information on training your instructors in the Heartstart toolkit.

Because most of your instructors will be teachers, this training needs to be flexible to allow potential instructors to train during school time.

It makes our children aware of dangers and teaches them to stay calm in an emergency.Mother of secondary school student

To help you get your programme up and running, you can apply for reimbursement of supply cover costs, to allow up to four of your teachers to take the training course.

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Becoming a Heartstart school

If you’d like to take the next step and become a Heartstart school, just get in touch and we’ll send you a Heartstart toolkit.

As we’ve said, it contains all you need to get your programme up and running. And there are detailed guidelines on issues such as keeping your programme going and health and safety, as well as an Affiliation application form.

If your affiliation is approved, we’ll send you a Heartstart training pack. It includes the Heartstart course, an instructor’s guide, activity and skills cards, a DVD (in either English or Welsh/Cymraeg), a student handbook and posters and certificates.

As a Heartstart school, you’ll be making a vital contribution to your community. Your students – and you – will have fun learning ELS skills. And you could save lives.

BHF contacts If you require more information about Heartstart please contact us at your relevant BHF Heartstart office:

England and Wales (excluding Northern England*)

Heartstart OfficeBritish Heart Foundation Greater London House180 Hampstead RoadLondon NW1 7AW

Tel: 020 7554 0353Email: heartstart@bhf.org.uk

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England*

Heartstart OfficeBritish Heart FoundationOcean Point One94 Ocean DriveEdinburgh EH6 6JH

Tel: 0131 554 6953Email: heartstart-edin@bhf.org.uk

Next steps

* Cheshire, Cleveland, Cumbria, Durham, Greater Manchester, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Merseyside, Tyne & Wear and Yorkshire.

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Help your pupils learn how to save a life today

More than 1500 Heartstart schools across the UK are teaching children how to make a difference.

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British Heart FoundationGreater London House 180 Hampstead RoadLondon NW1 7AWPhone: 020 7554 0000Fax: 020 7554 0100Website: bhf.org.uk

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© British Heart Foundation 2010, a registered charity in England and Wales (225971) and in Scotland (SC039426)

For more information about our publications and services, please order a copy of Heart health information and services from the BHF Orderline on 0870 600 6566, by email via orderline@bhf.org.uk or visit bhf.org.uk

As a charity, we can only continue our vital work in communities across the UK with your generous donations of time and money. If you’d like to help us save more lives, please visit bhf.org.uk/donate. Because it’s only together that we can beat heart disease. For good.

further information from the bhf