A woman who tragically lost her brother to a sudden cardiac arrest has teamed up with Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) and St John Ambulance to train hundreds of people in lifesaving skills at the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre. Samina Kiyani’s brother died 28 years ago, at just 21 years old when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at their home in Manchester. Sadly, time elapsed between him collapsing and being found. CPR was administered, but it was too late to save his life. Although this was beyond anyone’s control, this story serves to highlight the importance of time when someone is in cardiac arrest. Every second counts when the heart stops beating, and the key to survival is early chest compressions and early defibrillation. If performed within 3 to 5 min of collapse, this can increase survival rates by 50-70 percent. To honour her brother, Samina has been doing everything she can to raise awareness of these vital skills within the South Asian community, which can face greater risks of cardiac arrest with sometimes limited access to lifesaving resources. On October 28, Samina joined forces with St John and RCUK to teach lifesaving skills to hundreds of attendees at the East London event. The free sessions, offered in English, Bengali, and Urdu, covered how to help someone in cardiac arrest by performing CPR and using a defibrillator. Samina said: "I never want any family to go through the same heartbreak we have been through. “The loss of my youngest brother really highlights why CPR and defibrillators are so immensely important. It's crucial that more events and awareness sessions like this happen across ethnic minority communities in the UK - where we know people are more likely to have a cardiac arrest and less likely to know what to do - so more lives can be saved.” This latest event in East London is one of many set up to mark Restart A Heart, a RCUK initiative. This year the campaign aims to improve access to lifesaving skills and defibrillators in disadvantaged areas across the UK. Recent data reveals that 61 percent of people lack confidence in using a defibrillator, and access to this device is limited in many regions of London. James Cant, CEO at RCUK, said "RCUK is committed to ensuring that everyone across the UK has the skills they need to save a life, and that is why we have led the Restart A Heart campaign for the past 10 years. Our aim this year is to ensure we encourage communities to put defibs where they are needed most. “Anyone looking after a defib in East London – such as those in charge of pubs, sports clubs, community centres, mosques, churches and village halls – should make it accessible to the public 24/7. “It’s essential that everyone knows publicly available defibrillators are designed to be used by anyone, you don’t need training - it will provide clear instructions and talk you through what you need to do.” More than half of people (59 percent) living in ethnic minority communities feel they lack the knowledge to perform CPR, which is significantly higher compared to rest of the UK. People from these communities are statistically more likely to suffer a cardiac arrest, yet just 22 percent have received training in the last 10 years, compared with 41 percent of the UK population in same period. Ellie Cavilla, Community Locality Manager for St John Ambulance said: “At St John we’re doing everything we can to try and break down barriers for every community, so anyone wanting to learn lifesaving skills has the opportunity to do so. “We’re holding awareness sessions in different languages, running events like the one in East London through our CPR Network, as well as creating new resources for communities translated with clear videos and descriptions. Everyone should be able to access these skills, so they may have the confidence needed to save a life one day.” Throughout Restart a Heart, events will take place across the country in schools, communities, and workplaces to increase the number of individuals trained in CPR and defibrillation awareness.

A woman who tragically lost her brother to a sudden cardiac arrest has teamed up with Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) and St John Ambulance to train hundreds of people in lifesaving skills at the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre. Samina Kiyani’s brother died 28 years ago, at just 21 years old when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at their home in Manchester. Sadly, time elapsed between him collapsing and being found. CPR was administered, but it was too late to save his life. Although this was beyond anyone’s control, this story serves to highlight the importance of time when someone is in cardiac arrest. Every second counts when the heart stops beating, and the key to survival is early chest compressions and early defibrillation. If performed within 3 to 5 min of collapse, this can increase survival rates by 50-70 percent. To honour her brother, Samina has been doing everything she can to raise awareness of these vital skills within the South Asian community, which can face greater risks of cardiac arrest with sometimes limited access to lifesaving resources. On October 28, Samina joined forces with St John and RCUK to teach lifesaving skills to hundreds of attendees at the East London event. The free sessions, offered in English, Bengali, and Urdu, covered how to help someone in cardiac arrest by performing CPR and using a defibrillator. Samina said: “I never want any family to go through the same heartbreak we have been through. “The loss of my youngest brother really highlights why CPR and defibrillators are so immensely important. It’s crucial that more events and awareness sessions like this happen across ethnic minority communities in the UK – where we know people are more likely to have a cardiac arrest and less likely to know what to do – so more lives can be saved.” This latest event in East London is one of many set up to mark Restart A Heart, a RCUK initiative. This year the campaign aims to improve access to lifesaving skills and defibrillators in disadvantaged areas across the UK. Recent data reveals that 61 percent of people lack confidence in using a defibrillator, and access to this device is limited in many regions of London. James Cant, CEO at RCUK, said “RCUK is committed to ensuring that everyone across the UK has the skills they need to save a life, and that is why we have led the Restart A Heart campaign for the past 10 years. Our aim this year is to ensure we encourage communities to put defibs where they are needed most. “Anyone looking after a defib in East London – such as those in charge of pubs, sports clubs, community centres, mosques, churches and village halls – should make it accessible to the public 24/7. “It’s essential that everyone knows publicly available defibrillators are designed to be used by anyone, you don’t need training – it will provide clear instructions and talk you through what you need to do.” More than half of people (59 percent) living in ethnic minority communities feel they lack the knowledge to perform CPR, which is significantly higher compared to rest of the UK. People from these communities are statistically more likely to suffer a cardiac arrest, yet just 22 percent have received training in the last 10 years, compared with 41 percent of the UK population in same period. Ellie Cavilla, Community Locality Manager for St John Ambulance said: “At St John we’re doing everything we can to try and break down barriers for every community, so anyone wanting to learn lifesaving skills has the opportunity to do so. “We’re holding awareness sessions in different languages, running events like the one in East London through our CPR Network, as well as creating new resources for communities translated with clear videos and descriptions. Everyone should be able to access these skills, so they may have the confidence needed to save a life one day.” Throughout Restart a Heart, events will take place across the country in schools, communities, and workplaces to increase the number of individuals trained in CPR and defibrillation awareness.

Nov 01, 2023 by London-TV in Business

Cara (the Council for At-Risk Academics), a UK-based charity founded in 1933 to rescue academics at risk from persecution, violence, and conflict, reports that record numbers of Ukrainian and Russian academics have been rescued in the past 18 months since the launch of the war.

Over 210 Ukrainian academics have now been supported to find places at the UK’s leading universities, including the University of Oxford, University College London, Durham University, and others. These academics are being supported by Cara both directly and through Cara’s close engagement with the UK government funded British Academy-led Researchers at Risk programme.

Now in its 90th year, Cara works to provide temporary safe havens for scholars fleeing violence, repression, and threats to intellectual and individual freedom. The charity supports their escape, and often that of their families, using its long experience and extensive network of contacts to help them to find top academic placements around the UK, putting together a package of funding support and practical arrangements, including visas sponsored by the host universities, to enable them to continue their work in safety.

The vast majority of rescued Ukrainian academics are women, as male Ukrainian citizens aged 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving the country. Many of them are alone or with small children, having had to leave their husbands, partners, and other family members behind.

Dr Nadiia Lolina is an academic currently supported by Cara, one of over 6 million Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s illegal invasion, with approximately 210,000 now living in the UK. Before the war, she was an accomplished researcher and university lecturer in Urban and Public Art. As Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in February 2022, she fled the daily rocket attacks in Kyiv to find shelter in Western Ukraine and was separated from her husband and parents. It took her 10 days to evacuate via train to Lviv, where she then had to take a bus to Ivano-Frankivsk. From there, she boarded the once-weekly bus to Riga, and arrived 37 hours later.

Facing homelessness in Riga, Dr Lolina was able to travel to the UK under a Homes for Ukraine visa, with Cara arranging funding through the Institute of Historical Research for a place at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, where she was able continue her postdoctoral research. Today, she remains separated from her family, who live under constant threat in Kyiv.

Since the outbreak of the war in February 2022, Cara has so far also rescued 10 Russian academics who have openly criticised the war and Putin’s regime. Dr B B1 is a prominent academic in his field who signed open petitions and letters criticising Russia’s full-scale invasion. He witnessed colleagues being dismissed from their positions and arrested on spurious charges for voicing their criticisms of the Russian government and the war, so he fled with his wife to a neighbouring country. There, he contacted Cara, who helped him to escape persecution and secure a university placement in the UK.

Stephen Wordsworth, Executive Director of Cara, commented: “UK universities are leading the way in providing support for some of the world’s most gifted minds. It is the generous support of these universities which enables us to continue our mission to rescue these threatened academics from grave danger around the world.

“In our 90th year, we are now receiving more requests for help than at any time since we were founded in the 1930s. The Ukraine conflict is just one example; there are many other countries too where academics face heightened risks from conflict, or oppression, imprisonment, and murder at the hands of despotic regimes and extremist groups who see free-thinking academics as a threat. These are enormously talented individuals who bring unique experience and knowledge to the UK, forging lasting partnerships that will prove invaluable when it becomes safe for them to return home and rebuild their countries.”

Cara was founded in 1933 by leading academics, scientists, and public figures in the UK to support academics fleeing Nazi persecution. Albert Einstein took part in a major fundraising event at the Albert Hall in October 1933, noting in his speech that without academic freedom “there would have been no Shakespeare, no Goethe, no Newton, no Faraday, no Pasteur and no Lister […] most people would lead a dull life of slavery”. The charity is now receiving more requests for help than at any time since the 1930s, with the majority of appeals coming from Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, and also Afghanistan. 170 Cara Fellows from 17 different countries are currently in placements at UK universities.

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, Cara has brought over 40 Afghan Fellows with more than 90 family members to the safety of fully funded placements at UK universities. 12 of the rescued academics are women, who have been banned from attending university in Afghanistan since December 2022. Tight travel restrictions on women and girls have to be overcome to enable the safe journey of academics to the UK, with many of them fleeing through neighbouring countries with their fathers, brothers, and husbands as chaperones.

Over its 90-year history, Cara has helped many thousands of academics to escape from strife and persecution in their home countries and to reach safe places in the UK and elsewhere, where they can continue their work until, as most of them hope, they can one day return home to help rebuild their shattered societies.