It's time to get hands-on again for Restart a Heart Day! 

Every October an alliance of partners all over the world (including Ambulance Services, universities, and other charitable and public sector community-based organisations and first aid training organisations) come together to increase public awareness of cardiac arrests and the number of people trained in lifesaving CPR and defibrillation.

They do this by organising and facilitating training events and by providing opportunities for people to learn CPR and defibrillation digitally in the safety and comfort of their own homes. Although hosted by the IFRC, Restart a Heart Day offers St John establishments an opportunity to promote St John First Aid services around the world, and the difference first aid can make between a life saved and a life lost.  

To honour this year's theme Two Hands Can Save A Lifewe collected favourite CPR songs from a variety of the 44 different St John establishments around the world, to encourage you to practice your CPR techniques and to support your timing - Click here to listen to the playlist - we also added a couple from our team here at St John International too!  Are there any you would like to add? 

Did you know? 

  •  You should aim for 100 to 120 compressions a minute when applying CPR.
  •  It can help to sing along to your favourite 100-120bpm song to support your timing  


To support Restart a Heart Day, and to provide more people with the skills to help save a life in an emergency St John Global has a number of events planned.

  • St John Scotland will be providing Public Access Defibrillators and bystander CPR training. To know more about what St John Scotland will be doing visit www.stjohnscotland.org.uk 

  • Hato Hone St John is raising awareness of “Shocktober”; they have pulled together their own playlist, which you can find here. 

  • St John Ambulance Australia will be sharing photos and facts from some of their AEDs in stunning locations for World Restart a Heart Day – don't forget to follow along on Facebook! 

  • St John Ambulance will be running events in communities across England throughout the month of October and will launch its new three key action message: "Phone, Push, Press". The message references the three key steps needed to get help, start CPR, and use a defibrillator, to give someone the best chance of survival. 

  • St John Ambulance Cymru has been delivering first aid, demonstration and training sessions across Wales as part of their annual "Save a Life" September campaign. Volunteers and trainers held public demonstrations in all corners of Wales, teaching lifesaving skills, completely free of charge.

  • On Tuesday 3rd October, a team from the St John Papua New Guinea staff held a free one-hour awareness session on Heart Attack and first aid training at the Digicel PNG headquarters as part of their Restart a Heart Day campaign. On 16th October St John PNG will be going out to three public locations for awareness training. 

For more on our work expanding first aid training worldwide 

12 October 2023

Photo credits: St John Mauritius and St John South Africa, from activities for Restart a Heart Day 2022.