Download Teachers urged to join SADS Conference

PRESS RELEASE
THE JOE HUMPHRIES MEMORIAL TRUST
Date: Monday 15 June 2015
Teachers urged to join SADS Conference 2015
TEACHERS, sports coaches and youth leaders are being urged to attend a
pioneering conference that investigates sudden heart deaths in young
people.
The third annual SADS Awareness Conference is being organised by local
charity the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT) in conjunction with
the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
It takes place on Friday 2nd October at Leicester City Football Club.
The conference is of particular interest to anyone who works with young
people undertaking physical activity. Delegates will find out how easy
and quick it is to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and why it’s
vital to get hold of a defibrillator quickly if someone collapses.
SADS stands for sudden arrhythmic death syndrome. It’s part of a group
of subtle heart diseases that claim the lives of 12 teenagers and young
adults, aged 12-35, every week in the UK. Some conditions causing SADS
affect whole families.
Because SADS often affects seemingly fit and healthy young people, it
commonly comes to light during physical activity.
Doug Keast, director of sport at Crown Hills Community College, is one
of the teachers who has already signed up to the SADS Awareness
conference.
He said: “This initiative has raised awareness of an often undetected
condition in young people. As a lifelong teacher, coach and sports
participant I would urge people to attend this conference.
“It is sobering to contemplate the huge number of sport sessions I have
led over 25 years, often as the only adult. This conference is the ideal
starting point towards getting the practical skills and knowledge you
need to be able to help prevent the loss of young lives.”
Matt Byrne, assistant principal and director of PE and sport at Rawlins
Academy, in Quorn,said: “It is essential that we continue to raise
awareness and develop our sporting leaders’ knowledge of sudden
arrhythmic death syndrome.
“PE teachers and colleagues involved with PE lessons, extra-curricular
physical activity sessions and competitive fixtures devote much of their
time to ensuring young people have opportunities to flourish. With this
comes a responsibility for wellbeing and knowing how to act effectively
in emergency situations.
“This is one piece of a teacher’s professional development that could
save someone’s life and a great opportunity for PE departments and
sports clubs to offer support to a trust that truly makes a difference.”
Online booking is now open for the conference, which falls on the eve of
the festival of rugby week in the city, when three Rugby World Cup
group 2015 matches take place at the LCFC King Power stadium.
The event will be opened by Martin Johnson, former England rugby
captain and patron of the JHMT.
Martin said: “SADS and other subtle heart diseases can strike anyone, at
any time. That’s why it’s so important that teachers, youth leaders and
sports club coaches know the signs and know what to do if someone
collapses.”
Dr Ffion Davies, consultant in A&E at Leicester’s Hospitals, said: “Anyone
who deals with teenagers and people in their 20s may one day have to
perform resuscitation.”
The conference has been tailored to allow flexible attendance –
delegates can choose to take part in a morning session, an afternoon
session, or attend all day.
Pricing has also been arranged flexibly to make the conference as
accessible as possible. Registration fees start from £10 for an afternoon
session for a student. An all-day place will cost a maximum of £65.
Workshops included in the conference programme cover topics such as
ECG recognition, screening for families, bereavement and family
support, and how to spot the warning signs of SADS. There will also be a
simulated scene of someone collapsing with SADS.
To kick off the sports session in the afternoon, a sports ‘question time’
with cardiology specialists will open up the debate on the topic of
screening young people in sport.
Guest speakers will include Dr Graham Stuart, a cardiologist from Bristol
and Dr Rajay Narain, a cardiologist from London, as well as Dr Kal
Parmar, a sports specialist from London.
To book a place, please apply online at http://jhmt.org.uk/events
For all enquiries, please contact Vicky Wills, fundraising and events coordinator, on [email protected]
(ends)
The Joe Humphries Memorial Trust:
Joe Humphries died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome aged just
14 in October 2012, whilst out running near his family home in Rothley,
Leicestershire. Since then, his family and friends have worked tirelessly
to campaign for a better understanding of sudden, unexpected death in
young people, and have campaigned for compulsory CPR training in
schools and defibrillators in schools, community venues and sports clubs.
SADS Facts of Life:
- 12 young people aged 12-35 in Britain die each week from SADS undiagnosed heart problems.
- If CPR is started immediately, done effectively (by a trained person
with the victim lying flat) and a defibrillator can be got to the victim
within eight minutes, the majority of people could be saved, without
brain damage.
- The majority of deaths related to the condition are the result of
undiagnosed irregularities or abnormalities of the heartbeat, which are
known as arrhythmias.
- The unstable rhythm – the arrhythmia – develops a rhythm called
ventricular fibrillation, in which the ventricles, which are the main
pumping chambers of the heart, start beating at rates in excess of 250
beats per minute. Ventricular fibrillation causes sudden collapse,
seizure-like activity and cardiac arrest, resulting in the total loss of heart
function – but if diagnosed quickly, and if a shock from a defibrillator is
applied, normal heart rhythm and signs of life can be restored.
- Most SADS cases have a genetic origin, with cases tending to come to
light in teenage years and the early 20s.
- SADS can also occur for the first time in a family.
- Screening is available – if a problem is detected it can be monitored
and treated.
- Every minute lost without CPR reduces the survival rate by 10%.
- Only 7% of UK people have first aid skills, compared with 80% of people
in Scandinavian countries.
- There are 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year
and 27,000 do not survive the event (10% survival).
- To find out more about SADS and the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust,
please visit www.jhmt.org.uk