Secondary school students to learn life-saving resuscitation techniques
By Democrat reporter
Senior pupils in West Dunbartonshire will be trained in life-saving Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) before they leave school.
Pupils from West Dunbartonshire’s secondary schools will be required to learn first aid including CPR in the hope that they could save a life.
The Council fully supports the Scottish Government’s commitment to train an additional 500,000 people in Scotland in CPR skills by 2020.
Schools will work with the British Heart Foundation to introduce their Call Push Rescue programme
Councillor Karen Conaghan, Convener of Educational Services, said: “This is a great initiative, which will not only provide pupils with a lifelong skill, but it will hopefully give them the confidence to save a life. If all senior pupils are trained with lifesaving CPR skills that’s thousands more people that can provide help to someone in West Dunbartonshire. I fully support this initiative and welcome the introduction of the training which will empower and equip our pupils to take action and offer help in an emergency situation.”
Councillor Caroline McAllister, Vice Convener of Educational Services, said: “This training will teach our young people skills that they need to save a life. “Along with training our senior pupils, children in our Early Education and Childcare establishments are being taught how to keep themselves and others safe and primary schools pupils are being offered First Aid training. Together these initiatives will increase survival rates in West Dunbartonshire.”
Daniel Jones, Policy and Public Affairs Officer, BHF Scotland, said: “BHF Scotland is delighted that West Dunbartonshire Council is taking forward this lifesaving measure to train all secondary pupils in CPR, which sees it become the 13th Local Authority in Scotland to commit to delivering this vital training.
Students are coached in what to do if someone has a heart attack.
In Scotland, for every 12 people who have an Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest, sadly only one will survive. And we know from international evidence that training all school pupils in CPR has the potential to triple our survival rates.
This move by West Dunbartonshire Council could now mean that many more lives will be saved, thanks to young people having the skills and confidence to intervene and carry out CPR when an Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest occurs.
The decision sees West Dunbartonshire Council join Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and eight other Local Authorities across Scotland in delivering this lifesaving training to their young people, and we hope that all other councils in Scotland will soon be encouraged to follow suit.”
BHF research shows on average, each year in West Dunbartonshire, there will be 284 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 133 deaths from coronary heart disease.