SOUTH Central Ambulance Charity has partnered with a technology company to teach staff CPR and help them complete a them complete a 24-hour CPR-a-thon.

They have partnered with Tanium, a US technology company with a UK headquarters in Reading, the CPR-a-thon took place on  Thursday, September 22.

Staff worked in teams of eight to maintain 100 compressions a minute on CPR training manikins for 24 hours – around 144,000 in total over the period – with the aim of raising at least £6,000 for the charity.

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This was the idea of Tony Larks, senior director for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) marketing at Tanium and a volunteer community first responder for the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS). The initiative is designed to not only improve life-saving skills and raise funds, but also to remember the life of a colleague.

Angela Davies, 41, suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest last year and sadly could not be revived despite the best efforts of paramedics, leaving Tanium staff determined to commit to doing all they can to learn CPR, raise awareness and pay their respects to Angela.

Vanessa Casey chief executive of South Central Ambulance Charity said: “We can’t thank Angela’s family, Tony and Tanium enough for their efforts to support our CPR and defibrillator awareness and training programme as well as help raise funds for our community first responders.”

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Tanium’s CPR-a-thon marks the start of a build up towards Restart a Heart Day on Sunday October 16, which will see SCAS host a series of events and training sessions. It will also feature a number of case studies and films on CPR and defibrillator awareness.

Paramedic Nicola Dunbar head of community engagement and training at SCAS and Restart a Heart Day lead added: “Tanium’s CPR-a-thon is a great way to mark the start of our Restart a Heart Day activities and we want to thank Angela’s family, Tony and his colleagues for their support. We hope this helps to drum up further interest in the events we will be holding as we build up to the day itself.”