THE wife of late Keighley Cougars and Wales half-back Danny Jones is supporting a scheme to teach young people potentially life-saving skills.

Lizzie Jones is one of the ambassadors for Restart a Heart Day – an event planned by Yorkshire Ambulance Service that will take place in schools across the county.

A dozen local schools will be taking part in the event, which sees around 900 volunteers visiting 131 Yorkshire secondary schools on Monday to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). If someone is treated in this way it can double their chance of survival.

Mrs Jones, from Halifax, set up the Danny Jones Defibrillator Fund in her husband’s name following his sudden death in May 2015 while playing against London Skolars.

Mr Jones, 29, collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest while playing rugby, leaving behind his wife and five-month-old twins.

Mrs Jones said: “Restart a Heart Day is a fantastic event to be involved in – to think that so many youngsters are being taught this vital skill in one day is incredible. By providing CPR training to the children of today we are changing the future and that’s what it’s all about.”

Local schools taking part in the event include Bradford Girls’ Grammar School, Dixons City Academy and Queensbury School.

Although survival rates of cardiac incidents have increased in Yorkshire over the last two years – from 9.3 per cent in 2015-16 to 10.1 per cent in 2016-17 – statistics across the UK are still stubbornly low compared to countries like Norway, at around 25 per cent, where children learn CPR in schools.

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Jason Carlyon, Clinical Development Manager for YAS, said: “CPR is undoubtedly the most important step in the chain of survival. If this can be carried out in the critical few minutes before the arrival of an ambulance, it can mean the difference between life and death. In 2016-17, 42 per cent of cardiac arrest incidents in Yorkshire were witnessed by a non-clinician who could potentially have started CPR. It is therefore essential to provide CPR training to thousands of youngsters on Restart a Heart Day, but also to use the event as an opportunity to encourage others to learn this vital skill too.”

The event is in partnership with the British Heart Foundation.