Gateway Sixth Form College is proud to support the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT) this October as they launch their annual SADS Awareness week.
This year will mark the tenth anniversary of SADS Awareness week which stands for Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome. The week marks the tragic passing of 14-year-old Joe Humphries from Rothley who suddenly collapsed and died whilst out jogging on 4th October 2012. Joes father Steve Humphries set up the charity in his son’s name to bring awareness and resources to prevent other young people and their families experiencing a similar event.
Rated Good by Ofsted, the Hamilton based college has established a strong relationship with the charity following a programme of training for their students and has made a pledge to continue delivering to their 16–19-year-old cohort with the aim of 70% of all students skilled in how to save a life within the next five years.
Steve Humphries, Chair of JHMT, said,
“The JHMT’s annual SADS Awareness Week is another reminder about the importance that ‘everyone can be a lifesaver’ should someone fall victim to cardiac arrest. Every week in the UK, at least 12 young, seemingly fit people under 35 years of age die from a cardiac arrest due to undiagnosed heart conditions like Sudden Arrhythmic Heart Syndrome (SADS). In the UK there are also over 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) a year where emergency medical services attempt to resuscitate the victim. However, just 1 in 10 people in the UK survive. Each day, people needlessly die because bystanders don’t have the confidence or knowledge to perform CPR and defibrillation. These heart deaths aren’t inevitable, they are preventable.”
SADS Awareness week will launch on Monday 3rd October with Gateway College hosting training for another 15 students as part of the charities Educational Programme. During the week, pertinent issues in relation to sudden cardiac death and SADS prevention in the young will take place across Leicestershire and will be displayed across various digital platforms including the Gateway College social media channels and college website.
Deputy Principal Nicola Martin stated,
“As a college for young people across the city and county we fully support this important initiative and have embedded the training within our student development programme as part of our commitment to a culture of wellbeing across the College. It is wonderful to see our students so engaged and learning skills that could mean the difference between life and death.”
Alan White, Lead Trainer for Resuscitation at the JHMT has been delivering the training sessions to students at the College over the last 12 months and explains,
“There are about 600 deaths a year across the UK from SADS. There are often no warning signs, it can happen out of the blue and happen very quickly. For each minute delayed in performing CPR and defibrillation chances of survival are reduced by 10%. But simple skills save lives. That’s the message I want these young people to leave with when I talk to them. It’s not difficult but it can be very very frightening when it happens so that is why we are training them so that they know what to expect and what to do if it happens.”
Akash, Rupinder and Flynn have taken part in one of Alan’s sessions and said,
“We felt nervous about taking part in the demonstration beforehand but feel like we have taken part in something very important and know what to do now.”
For more information about SADS Awareness Week 3rd – 10th October 2022 and the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust go to www.jhmt.org.uk