Ambulance volunteers team up with school for CPR challenge
WELSH Ambulance Service volunteers, Save a Life Cymru and Porthcawl Comprehensive School have teamed up for a CPR challenge.
On Thursday (09 November), volunteer Community First Responder, students, teachers and the public will be performing chest compressions on dummies for 12 hours to raise awareness of the importance of early CPR and defibrillation.
Joined by colleagues from Save a Life Cymru, Welsh Ambulance staff, CFR trainers and the school will also be asking for 50p donations for each CPR cycle carried out to fund a defibrillator for the community.
The event will be split into two sessions with 1,300 Porthcawl Comprehensive School students taking part from 9:00am until 3:00pm, and the public invited to join the second half from 3:30pm until 9:00pm.
Roger Slennett, a Volunteer Community First Responder in Porthcawl who helped to organise the event, said: “The event was organised following a CPR and defibrillation awareness session that the Porthcawl CFRs taught to sixth form students in July this year.
“The sessions were so well received that the school wanted to plan an additional event to further promote CPR, not just within the school, but the wider Porthcawl community.
“We came up with the CPR-athon challenge and are delighted to be working with the school and Save a Life Cymru.
“The aim is simple – to raise awareness of the importance of early CPR and defibrillation use in the community in an attempt to increase cardiac arrest survival rates.”
At the start of the week, several refresher CPR sessions were scheduled for students and staff taking part.
Clare Crook, Head of Porthcawl Comprehensive School’s Sixth Form, said: “We are really excited to host this event as by educating our students on what to do when an emergency presents itself will help build a resilient community.
“So far, with the help of the Welsh Ambulance’s volunteers we’ve been able to teach over 1,000 students CPR in preparation for the event with interactive sessions using the ReviveR app.
“Hopefully we will be joined by members of public and other organisations, including the local Brownies and Cubs clubs, Town Council and Bridgend Council, the local Rugby club and Choir, along with Police, Fire and Lifeguard service.
“During the day every student from year seven to 13 will participate in three minutes of CPR, which will be a huge undertaking, but it will be a great opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of early CPR, defibrillation and fundraise for a community defibrillator.”
If you would like to join the CPR-athon challenge which will be located in the school’s Jubilee Theatre or simply donate to the cause, email: 6thform@porthcawlschool.co.uk
Len Nokes, Chair of Save a Life Cymru said; “We are delighted to be involved with this CPR-athon.
“Our team of Community Co-ordinators have been busy teaching CPR techniques to the students in preparation for the event on Thursday.
“This is a significant event for the community and its legacy will result of hundreds more CPR aware and trained individuals in Porthcawl.”
When someone has a cardiac arrest, they collapse and become unresponsive.
They either stop breathing entirely, or they may take gasping or infrequent breaths for a few minutes, which can be mistaken as snoring.
If you see someone having a cardiac arrest, phone 999 immediately and start CPR.
In addition, a defibrillator will deliver a controlled electric shock to try and get the heart beating normally again.
It is important that new and existing defibrillators are registered on The Circuit in order that 999 call handlers can quickly and easily alert callers to their location if needed.
Check https://www.defibfinder.uk/ to see where your nearest defibrillator is.
Watch this video from the Resuscitation Council UK about how to perform CPR.
