Last weekend, Christian Eriksen, a 29yr old Danish footballer, collapsed on the pitch whilst playing against Finland and required CPR. Thankfully, due CPR and the excellent medical care he received pitch side, he is on the road to recovery. This further highlighted the importance of being able to perform CPR.
We are a ‘Restart a Heart School’ and for the past four weeks our P6/7 pupils have been following the Restart a Heart School programme. This programme aims to build a community of lifesavers and where better to learn it only in school!
In 2018, the we lead a fundraising campaign to purchase 2 defibrillators (one for Drumaroad and one for Clonvaraghan) along with 2 cabinets to house them in. The need for a piece of vital, lifesaving equipment in our rural areas, where ambulance response times are longer, is essential. For every minute someone is in cardiac arrest without CPR and access to a defibrillator, their chances of survival drops by up to 10%. Furthermore, bi-annually the school hosts a Community CPR and Defibrillator Awareness session (lead by the NIAS). Please check our Facebook page and parish bulletin in early September for details of the next session.
In 2019, we enrolled in the Restart a Heart programme. Teachers have been trained by the Community Resuscitation Team of the NIAS to provide hands on CPR and defib skills to the children. The NIAS have provided the us with everything we need to run these sessions including annual training and reusable manikins. Every year, around, 1,500 people in Northern Ireland suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; let’s increase the chances of survival and learn how to perform CPR!
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