COLCHESTER’S main shopping district is teaming up with the emergency services to teach vital life-saving skills as part of an annual resuscitation awareness campaign.

Restart a Heart Day, which is taking place today and is free of charge, will involve the police, fire brigade, and ambulance service setting up in Lion Walk to teach people what to do in the event of a cardiac arrest.

Participants will also be taught how to perform CPR and how to use a defibrillator, with Michael Lewis from East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) leading the training.

Heroic, Stuart Moore stepped in to perform CPR after a woman collapsed in Lion Walk earlier this yearHeroic, Stuart Moore stepped in to perform CPR after a woman collapsed in Lion Walk earlier this year (Image: Stuart Moore) The initiative is led by Resuscitation Council UK and aims to increase the number of people surviving out-of-hospital cardiac arrests by helping more people learn CPR.

In April, the early starting of CPR by a member of the facilities team at Lion Walk helped save a woman’s life.

Stuart Moore, who has worked at Lion Walk for nine years, started CPR when the woman went into cardiac arrest.

Oliver Ingrouille and Keaton Eccles, first responders from Essex County and Rescue Service, were quickly on scene and took over CPR and used a defibrillator to shock the woman’s heart back into a normal rhythm.

Their early intervention gave EEAS paramedics and clinicians at the Essex and Herts Ambulance the opportunity to stabilise the woman and transport her to hospital.

Martin Leatherdale, Lion Walk centre manager, encouraged people to get involved.

He said: “We are incredibly pleased to host restarts a heart day with the Ambulance Service and partners.

"I have witnessed first-hand this year the incredible heroic work of using CPR to save a life in the shopping centre earlier this year.

"The more people that have these life-saving skills, the more lives we can save, and the safer and more protected the city centre and our communities become.

“I would encourage everyone who can to attend and getting involved in this brilliant free exercise.”

Support – Martin Leatherdale has backed the national Restart a Heart Day campaignSupport – Martin Leatherdale has backed the national Restart a Heart Day campaign (Image: Lion Walk) Mr Lewis, from EEAS, added: “Bystander CPR is so important in improving the chances of a patient’s survival when they have a cardiac arrest – as was shown in the Lion Walk last April.

“When I attend cardiac arrests and am informed CPR has been started early by someone trained it reassures me the patient is given every chance of survival.

“So, please come along on the day and help make our communities safer by increasing the number of people trained in basic life support.”