Dame Rebecca Harris MP paid a visit to Essex & Herts Air Ambulance’s North Weald Airbase, where she saw first-hand how the charity is helping equip more people with the confidence and skills to save a life.
During her visit, Dame Rebecca met the team behind the charity’s CPR Smart™ programme, which offers free CPR and defibrillator training to schools across Essex and Hertfordshire.
She also learned about the charity’s introduction of new female CPR training manikins, helping to address a long-standing gap in CPR education. Historically, most training has been delivered using male-bodied manikins, despite evidence that women experiencing cardiac arrest are less likely to receive bystander CPR.
Research suggests anxiety over touching a woman’s chest or being accused of inappropriate behaviour can hold people back from performing CPR on a woman. The new manikins will help ensure any CPR training better reflects the communities the air ambulance serves and breakdown these barriers.
Dame Rebecca Harris MP said:
"It was inspiring to visit Essex & Herts Air Ambulance and see the innovation and commitment that sits behind their lifesaving work. I was particularly impressed by the CPR Smart™ programme and the charity's efforts to make CPR training more realistic by using female manikins to give people more confidence to help women in cardiac arrest. Initiatives like this help break down barriers, increase public confidence and ultimately give more people the skill they need to step forward and save a life."
Essex & Herts Air Ambulance CEO Mark Jarman-Howe, said:
"Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces a person's chance of survival, so giving more people the skills to act in an emergency is vital. By introducing female manikins, we're helping tackle some of the challenges which prevent some women in cardiac arrest from being given CPR . We were delighted to share this important work with Dame Rebecca and highlight the impact it could have across our communities."
Essex & Herts Air Ambulance delivers advanced pre-hospital emergency care across Essex, Hertfordshire and surrounding areas, while also working to improve survival rates through community education initiatives such as CPR Smart™.
To find out more about CPR Smart™ or support the charity's lifesaving work, visit www.ehaat.org.
