Students at the University of Worcester have completed their 24-hour CPR marathon, attracting the donation of a defibrillator and a visit from a Casualty actor.
Actor Michael Stevenson takes to the CPR mannequin
The students began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a training mannequin at 9am on Monday, 10 March, and the final few compressions were delivered as the clock struck 9 the following morning.
During the event, the students were visited by Michael Stevenson, who plays Iain Dean in the BBC drama Casualty.
As well as raising money, the event attracted an incredible donation from Defib Store LTD, one of the nation’s leading suppliers of defibrillators.
It means the students will be able to find a suitable location for the defibrillator out in the community.
Elise Faragher, Chair of the Paramedic Society (Parasoc) said: “We’re all very tired, but so proud of what we’ve done here.”
She continued: “We’d sent a message to Michael Stevenson to say what we were doing, and he said he’d come down. We kept it secret until he got here so it was a nice surprise for people when he arrived. He asked us lots of questions and got involved, he did some compressions, and it was brilliant!”
Vivienne Nicholls, from Defib Store LTD, personally delivered the defibrillator to the students on the day of the event.
She said: “I came down to hand over the defibrillator and also talk to people who attended about what we do and all about CPR.”
She continued: “It’s very important for us to get defibrillators out there; we want to see more people doing events like this.”
She added: “These students are having their training now, so they know how important it is, and it makes a difference to their jobs too, knowing that while they’re rushing to someone who has had a sudden cardiac arrest, someone else has got a defib and they’re administering CPR.”
Elise Faragher said: “It’s absolutely amazing. We wanted to raise money for a defib, but they can be so expensive, and when we learned that Vivienne and Defib Store would donate one, we were absolutely ecstatic, and I’m so proud of the Paramedic Society today.”
For information on courses at University of Worcester visit www.worcester.ac.uk or for application enquiries, telephone 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk