A school in Portlaoise is the first in Laois to receive an Irish Heart Foundation award after its students were trained in the lifesaving skill of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Dunamase College was given the award as part of the charity’s national CPR 4 Schools programme, which recognise schools, teachers and students for remarkable efforts in CPR promotion and training.
The charity is creating a generation of life savers by training post-primary school students around the country to perform CPR and respond in a cardiac emergency.
They are also taught how to use an AED (defibrillator) and respond when someone is choking.
Around 86% of post-primary schools in Ireland are now trained in CPR.
Katherine Scott, Acting Children and Young People Programme Manager with the Irish Heart Foundation, said: “We are delighted to award Dunamase College with their CPR 4 Schools Award in recognition of their dedication in providing lifesaving CPR training to their students and staff.
“Over 70% of cardiac arrests happen in a domestic setting. We know schools are an ideal place to educate young people in CPR and reduce the incidences of death from cardiac arrest.
“All schools have done tremendous work in creating awareness and taking the fear out of lifesaving.
“CPR is a lifesaving skill that everyone can learn, and this programme is available to every post primary school in Ireland, equipping young people with the skills and confidence to perform it.
“We would like to train more post-primary schools and are encouraging teachers to attend our free training courses.”
So far, 2,499 teachers in 627 post-primary schools around the country have taken part in the CPR 4 Schools programme and learned how to deliver CPR, giving the programme a reach of over 350,000 post-primary students.
These schools have been recognised for taking the programme into the heart of their schools and giving students the opportunity to learn the vital lifesaving skill.
All post-primary school teachers are encouraged to attend the free training. The CPR 4 Schools programme is easy to run, is designed to embed within the school curriculum and takes one hour to train a class.
In a joint statement, the two teachers at Dunamase College who taught the CPR module, Angela Goucher and Siobhán Holland, said the students were now equipped with “a skill for life”.
“Our transition year students embraced our goal to train all students in Dunamase College in CPR,” they said.
“We feel that their dedication has had a huge community impact – not just our school community but also within the town of Portlaoise and county.
“They are now equipped with a skill they can carry for life, an awareness of AEDs and how to help in emergencies.
“The success of the programme is reflected in the confidence and self-efficacy all of our students have gained. They have become fantastic ambassadors for the CPR4Schools programme.
“We are very proud of all our students and are delighted in what they have achieved.”
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