Limerick school presented with first-ever CPR 4 Schools Special Recognition Award by Irish Heart Foundation

Munster Rugby players Andrew Conway, Rhys Marshall and Sam Arnold, participated in a CPR demonstration with 1st-year students at the CPR 4 Schools Special Recognition Awards.

Limerick school presented with first-ever CPR 4 Schools Special Recognition Award by Irish Heart Foundation

by ilovelimerick correspondent Chloe O’Keeffe

The Irish Heart Foundation’s first-ever CPR 4 Schools Special Recognition Award was presented to Coláiste Íde agus Iosef, Abbeyfeale, in recognition of the secondary school’s exceptional efforts in training its students in CPR.  

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Munster Rugby players Andrew Conway, Rhys Marshall and Sam Arnold, participated in a CPR demonstration with 1st-year students before the Irish Heart Foundation presented the award to principle, Liam Murphy, and teacher, Diarmuid O’Connell (31), the school’s CPR 4 Schools coordinator, who suffered a cardiac arrest in 2009.

Laura Hickey Irish Heart Foundation, said, “We are delighted to award Coláiste Íde agus Iosef the first special recognition award, it’s school like this who will make a significant impact in creating the future generation of lifesavers. Schools are an ideal setting to reach all young people to help reduce the incidence of premature death and disability from heart disease and stroke which is Ireland’s number one killer. CPR is a lifesaving skill that everyone can learn, this programme is available to every post-primary school in Ireland, equipping young people with the skills and confidence to perform CPR. Coláiste Íde agus Iosef have done tremendous work in creating awareness and taking the fear out of lifesaving.”

The innovative CPR 4 Schools Special Recognition programme, supported with Bank of Ireland aims to create a new generation of 360,000 CPR lifesavers in every community in Ireland by the end of 2019. To date, 289 schools in every county across Ireland have been trained. 

With over 700 students, Coláiste Íde agus Iosef was acknowledged for its efforts in creating the next generation of life-savers within the school and also in promoting this valuable skill in the wider community of Abbeyfeale.

The Irish Heart Foundation’s expert CPR 4 Schools team delivers training via education centres to post-primary teachers.

The Irish Heart Foundation’s expert CPR 4 Schools team delivers training via education centres to post-primary teachers who are then provided with an online programme which can be taught effectively in the classroom. In addition, the Irish Heart Foundation provides schools with free kits worth €600 which contain training manikins to encourage crucial hands-on practice.

Central to the mission of the Irish Heart Foundation is to help save more lives from cardiac arrest through CPR training programmes in post-primary schools and communities across the country.

The more people who know CPR, the more lives can be saved. 5,000 lives are lost every year in Ireland to sudden cardiac death, that’s 13 lives lost every day. Starting CPR can double if not triple a person’s chance of survival. In the event of a collapse from cardiac arrest, every minute is vital, without CPR or defibrillation, the chance of survival falls by up to 10 percent a minute. The Irish Heart Foundation’s CPR 4 Schools programme means that all children will get the chance to learn CPR which will benefit every community demographics in Ireland. In just 40 minutes, students can learn how to perform CPR, use an AED, and help someone who is choking – that’s one class to potentially save a life. 

For more info on the Irish Heart Foundation CPR 4 Schools go here.

For more stories on the Irish Heart Foundation go here.