Students in Worcester have completed a CPR marathon, taking it in turns to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a manikin for 24 hours without stopping.
The paramedic students were joined by University of Worcester staff as they worked through the night without missing a single beat on the manikin’s chest.
The event was organised by the University of Worcester’s Paramedic Society, and raised money for Midlands Air Ambulance, Cardiac Risk in the Young, and also for an ongoing fundraising campaign to have a defibrillator installed at a nearby shop.
As well as raising funds, they were highlighting the fact that women are less likely to be given CPR by a passer-by.
Figures suggest women are 28 percent less likely to receive CPR because of embarrassment, fear, and doubt about touching or exposing their chest while giving help.
Third year Paramedic student Izzy Gamble is one of the organisers. She said: “When I first saw that statistic and heard that people are worried about exposing a chest, or taking a bra off, it really surprised me. I thought, ‘why is this such a problem?’”
Izzy continued: “It played on my mind. We have ‘Annie’ dolls which we use to train CPR, but why don’t they have breasts? Why are they male dolls? It got me thinking and I thought we’d try and get the word out at the CPR Marathon to let people know it’s ok to give CPR to women!”
“You won’t get in trouble for it,” said Izzy. “Let’s try and save as many lives as we can.”
They finished the CPR Marathon at 09.00 on Friday (15th March) and celebrated with a big cheer as they counted down to the 24 hour milestone having raised almost a thousand pounds for their chosen charities.
After completing the challenge, Izzy said: “I feel ecstatic that we’ve completed this challenge, and I’m so proud of the team for all the time, effort and hard work they’ve put into the project with me.”
For most people, staying up all night and doing CPR on a manikin between naps would be the biggest challenge, but not for Izzy!
She said “The hardest part would have to be the organisation, the lead it up to it and making sure the event ran smoothly, which it did!”.
She continued: “Without the team the event wouldn’t have happened and I’m grateful for them all for pushing through and helping to get this done.”
