LIFE saving techniques were shared at a special session hosted by Newton Abbot WI this week.

Mid-Devon Advertiser editor Nick Knight went along to join in the training session.

Jim Conway, from Jay’s Aim, gave us a lecture on how easy it is to use a heart defibrillator and how to apply CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) techniques to a person who has suffered heart failure

Jay’s Aim was established with the target of reducing the rate of sudden cardiac death among young people here in South-West England.

Jim explained how the heartbroken family of Jay (James Alexander Osboorne), from Exeter, set up the charity after his untimely death from sudden cardiac death at 28.

Newton Abbot WI hosted the session at the Buckland Centre to raise awareness of how to use defibrillators and give people suffering heart failure the best chance possible of surviving.

One of the youngest members of the audience, Oscar Tettmar, applied the pads to show how easy it was to use one of these remarkable machines.

After the training session Oscar said it had been a great experience and really useful to see how easy it was to use the machine.

Jim added that while the Jay’s Aim charity was dedicated to raising awareness of potentially fatal cardiac problems in young people, sessions such as this were also held to train people to know what to do in a medical emergency.

He urged people to visit the Jay’s Aim website to see how they could support its work and save lives.

Karen Jenks, of Newton Abbot WI, said she hoped the session would raise awareness of defibrillators and hoped it would give more people confidence to step in and help in an emergency.

Nick Knight said: ‘Under Jim’s guidance I think everyone felt by the end of the session that if they were faced with the dauntng prospect of someone suffering from heart failure they would be able to help. It was great that our local WI hosted such a valuable training session.’

You can find out more about Jay’s Aim at https://www.jaysaim.co.uk