THE Ilkley’s Got Heart campaign team is calling on people to reduce the stress on the NHS by taking a free on-line lifesaving course.

The course provides participants with basic, but essential, skills to save lives at home. It was not created to replace the services of the first responders or the ambulance service, but to buy valuable time to allow those on the front line to get to your nearest and dearest as soon as they can.

David Shaw MBE, Chairman of Ilkley Community Network Group said: “I appeal to everyone out there to take the course, it’s totally free, there is no ongoing commitment or pressure, you’ve really nothing to lose and everything to gain by doing it.

“We are in a challenging period with Covid 19 dominating our lives, whilst we are confined to our homes now is the perfect opportunity to both better yourself and help protect your family and loved ones.”

David added: “The Ilkley Community Network Group has a clear role of helping to bring people to work together for the good of Ilkley. The Ilkley’s Got Heart Prepared to Save a Life campaign is a great example of this and demonstrates the passion to make Ilkley safer. We thank our sponsors and supporters without whom this campaign would not have had such great impact.”

The free e-learning course, available at www.ilkleysgotheart.co.uk

Broken into five, 10-minute modules, the course covers Primary Survey of the casualty, CPR, Bleeding, Choking and Stroke.

It takes under an hour to complete the course and you gain a certificate of completion. If you are at all concerned with the potential risks of close contact with an individual with Coronavirus, the website also has a video with guidances as to how to safely administer aid in that situation.

The original goal was to get 1000 people in Ilkley signed up, but in these challenging times the campaign is encouraging anyone, anywhere in the country to take the course.

The ‘Ilkley’s Got Heart’- Prepared to Save a Life online training initiative was developed by Ilkley based Virtual College, Qualsafe Ltd and the charity ‘Community Save a Life Scheme’ (CSALS), to help get more people trained nationally in basic first aid. The non-profit campaign is being generously supported and sponsored by groups and businesses including Virtual College, The Ilkley BID, Westbrook Agency, PACO First Aid, Bradford MDC, Welcome to Yorkshire and Ilkley Town Council.