PROVING you are never too young to learn, pre-school children in Ilkley this week had lessons in how to perform live saving cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Spicey Gill Pre-school in Kings Road, Ilkley, teamed up with doctors from Airedale Hospital's emergency department as part of European Restart a Heart Day 2017 on Monday. Restart a Heart Day is a designated yearly day of action across Europe with the aim to teach vital life saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills to as many people as possible. Last year 150,581 young people were trained in life saving CPR in a single day and it is hoped the 2017 event will surpass that number.

Dr Alex Danecki, a Consultant ED doctor at Airedale Hospital, Dr Annie Summers, a speciality doctor in Airedale's ED and Amina Abu El Hawa, a health care assistant, led the two hour session with the children.

Dr Summers said: "We aim to educate young kids about their hearts, what keeps them healthy and how to perform basic first aid and call for help. The session was fun, interactive and practical. The day also aims at raising awareness that despite good healthcare in the UK the outcomes from having out of hospital cardiac arrest are very poor when compared to other European countries. In part believed to be due to not enough people being able to start and perform CPR promptly and effectively."

She added: "The event was great fun. Parents were also present and participated. The kids loved it and Spicey Gill Pre-school teachers Eleanor and Karen were fantastic at engaging the kids as always.

"Raising nationwide awareness, increasing everyone’s participation and future hope for compulsory teaching children CPR at schools is driven by a single aim, which is to improve the survival rates of those who have a cardiac arrest out of hospital."

Photos by Amina Abu El Hawa.