Hundreds of pupils at the district’s secondary schools have learnt how to perform emergency CPR.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service personnel visited the schools last week as part of the Restart a Heart initiative.
These vital first aid techniques were taught to them by a team co-ordinated by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
Students were shown a short introductory video and then guided by the emergency services trainers on how to call for help, check airways, perform CPR and the role of the defibrillator.
They learned about the importance of an immediate response in the event of someone’s heart stopping and how, by performing CPR in the first few minutes, the patient’s chances of survival increases greatly.
The sessions were taken by community first responders, firefighters, nurses and paramedics who had given up their time for free.
Lesley Butterworth, Yorkshire Air Ambulance group station manager, said: “We know in countries where we teach CPR to children the outcomes for cardiac arrest survival are better.
“Restart a Heart is about teaching young people a vital life skill so they can help in the event of a cardiac arrest.”
Nicola Walker, biology teacher and co-ordinator of Restart a Heart’ at Richmond School, said: “We have a long-standing association with Restart A Heart and are privileged to have been involved since its start.
“We initially worked with our Years 10 and 11, which means these students could now be in their second years of university and it’s great to think that over 800 of our students have benefited from training on such an essential life-saving skill.”
