What is Restart a Heart Day?
Restart a Heart Day is an annual training event on October 16th relating to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillator use or first aid surrounding heart attacks. Education and training will be offered to the general public in CPR and what to do in the event of a heart attack.

This is hands-on event across Europe, offering training by qualified medical professionals. The training is done using a CPR dummy, and participants are shown a demonstration of how to act in a heart emergency, how to act safely and what the resuscitation process is, before being allowed to attempt the actions of the resuscitation process themselves.

There may be video demonstrations of CPR processes, as well as leaflet handouts and information on further first aid training available locally. Usually there will be a question and answer session, so that interested participants can ask about matters surrounding CPR, for example what to do about resuscitation of someone who is carrying a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ Card. Certificates may be issued to participants.

Restart a Heart sessions are carried out at local community venues such as community halls and fire station training rooms, and may be advertised in local press and media news.

The aim of Restart a Heart Day is to bring awareness, education and training to the general public in order to increase the likelihood of lives being saved in the event of a heart attack, as the early moments of a heart attack are critical and a trained person on the scene can make the critical difference.