‘BYSTANDERS can be lifesavers...’, that's the message from Newton Abbot’s Women’s Institute (WI) as the group sets about making cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillator training more accessible off the back of research showing that one in three are afraid to give CPR to a woman in public.

Research by St John Ambulance found that a third of the British public are afraid to give CPR to women because they are worried about touching breasts.

And the same proportion, a third of men (33 per cent) said they are concerned they will be accused of ‘inappropriate’ touching when giving chest compressions to a woman in cardiac arrest in public - versus 13 per cent of women.

Researchers from the University of Leeds found that more than 8,200 women in England and Wales could have survived their heart attacks had they been give the same treatment as men.

The research rightfully caught the attention of WI’s up and down the country, not least here in Newton Abbot.

‘We were aghast’, Newton Abbot WI president, Karen Jenks, said of the research.

‘We [women] have fought for some much over the years, particularly the WI - we [women] matter and it is not right that we are less likely to receive bystander CPR and defibrillation’, Karen added.

Karen has since wrote to local primary schools, offering free CPR and defibrillator training, thanks to Jay’s Aim.

It comes as WI members across the country voted in favor of the ‘Bystanders Can Be Lifesavers’ resolution at the organisation’s national meeting on June 4.

The resolution aims to boost CPR training and confidence, as well as improving access to defibrillators by working with community leaders.

‘We are taking up this resolution by trying to involve as many pupils as possible to undertake training’, Karen said.

The efforts of Newton Abbot WI comes as Thursday, October 16 marks ‘Restart a Heart Day’, which takes place every year and raises awareness of cardiac arrest and the importance of learning CPR.