Two Waterford schools receive awards for life-saving skills training

Ardscoil na Mara in Tramore and St Declan’s Community College in Kilmacthomas have received a CPR 4 Schools award from the Irish Heart Foundation.

Thirty-three schools received awards this year as part of the national heart and stroke charity’s CPR 4 Schools programme.

The award is given to recognise schools, teachers and students for remarkable efforts in CPR promotion and training.

Ardscoil na Mara Principal, Pádraig Cawley, said they were delighted to receive the award.

“This is such a valuable training programme for teachers and students alike.

“I would like to pay a special tribute to our colleague Derek O'Brien for his tireless work in encouraging our school community to avail of this training.

“I would also like to acknowledge the support of the Irish Heart Foundation for the development of this wonderful initiative in schools.

“Our communities are safer places because of programmes such as this,” said Mr Cawley.

The programme trains students to perform CPR and respond in a cardiac emergency, use an AED (defibrillator), and respond when someone is choking.  

It involves one-hour, video-led lessons, fully supported with manikin kits and classroom resources.  

Outside of the schools,  families and entire communities gain by having young people emerge as confident lifesavers.

Ninety-per-cent of secondary schools have engaged in the programme since its inception.

The programme has seen 2,630 teachers involved across 649 schools to deliver CPR training, giving the programme a reach of over 350,000 students nationwide.

The charity is now calling on all schools to sign up to help build a new generation of lifesavers.

Resuscitation Manager with the Irish Heart Foundation, Brigid Sinnott, encourages teachers nationwide to get involved.

“We know that schools are extremely busy places, which makes us all the more blown away by the work and commitment they have put in to teach the lifesaving skill of CPR to date.

“The Irish Heart Foundation’s mission is to build a nation of lifesavers through CPR training and schools are vital to help us achieve that.

“The CPR 4 Schools programme is easy to run and takes just one hour to train a class.

“I would encourage schools nationwide to visit irishheart.ie/cpr4schools to learn how easy it is to implement our programme.

“Schools and teachers are at the core of this programme and these awards are our way of recognising them for empowering students with a lifesaving skill,” said Ms Sinnott.

A person’s chance of survival is doubled when CPR is started immediately.

According to the Irish Heart Foundation, by learning CPR once in your life, you are 10 times more likely to respond to an emergency than someone who has never received training.

Post-primary school teachers interested in signing up for the free programme can register by emailing: schools@irishheart.ie.

You can find out more about CPR 4 Schools here.