EVERYONE in the South West could help reduce heart attack deaths with an achievable New Year’s resolution, according to a Somerset-based charity.

As shocking new figures show 96% of people in the South West break New Year’s resolutions, the nation’s leading first aid charity is inviting you to make one that you can easily keep.

St John Ambulance wants everyone to watch and share a six-second film at www.sja.org.uk/4ps which shows how to recognise the first signs of a heart attack and be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.

In the UK, 92,000 people suffer heart attacks each year – a third of them die as a result – meanwhile research from St John Ambulance also shows that two-thirds (66%) of people in our region wrongly believe that a heart attack is a cardiac arrest.

The symptoms of a heart attack are known as the ‘Four Ps’:

  • Pain (in the chest)
  • Pulse (weak or rapid)
  • Pale (ashen skin)
  • Perspiration (or profuse sweating)

If these signs are spotted swiftly and appropriate treatment is given, a heart attack need not lead to a potentially fatal cardiac arrest (when the person stops breathing and requires resuscitation).

Steve Hargreaves, regional director for St John Ambulance in the South West said: ‘We want to give people the chance to make an achievable and potentially life-saving New Year’s resolution.

‘Help us reduce heart attack deaths by watching our quick steps on how to spot a heart attack, and share it with your friends.

‘We hope it isn’t but this could be the year you need to use it.’ St John Ambulance’s new research found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of people in the South West make New Year’s resolutions but, of that figure, 96% of us admit to breaking them, with the most common excuses cited as:

  • 72% lose interest
  • 24% feel that they didn’t need to make the resolution in the first place
  • 20% say it was unachievable
  • 13% feel resolutions are time-consuming
  • 11% lack the will power to keep their resolution on their own

Most resolutions will be broken by Friday January 24, 2014 and many will have fallen by the wayside already but St John Ambulance’s solution is free, takes seconds, and could help you save a life today or in the future.

Visit www.sja.org.uk/4ps for more details.