Edit Print Text Only

LUCKY2BHERE AND OUR WORK WITH SCHOOLS

BACKGROUND
Lucky2BHere has three objectives, one of which is to have everyone capable of being a first responder. This is routed firmly in Education and Training of all secondary school pupils in Scotland in basic life saving techniques as part of the school curriculum aligned with lifestyle training in diet and exercise.

We are working hard to encourage every local authority in Scotland to recognise that incorporating ELS training as part of the Curriculum for Excellence will save lives by equipping young people with the skills to act in an emergency where every second counts. ELS skills include cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which can help someone who’s had a cardiac arrest, and how to deal with an unconscious person, serious bleeding, choking and heart attacks. Incorporated into the training is the use of defibrillators as we try to place as many as possible throughout rural communities.

Along with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Scotland and Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS), we are calling for local authorities to ensure that all Scottish school pupils are taught emergency life support (ELS) skills as part of the Curriculum for Excellence.

We have been extremely fortunate in Skye and Lochalsh to have had the support of both Portree High School and Plockton High School. Teachers and pupils have embraced the Initiative enthusiastically. We are equally grateful to Heartstart Skye and Heartstart Lochalsh for providing the training – no mean feat when in excess of 200 pupils have been trained.

PORTREE HIGH SCHOOL

In April 2011 Portree High School became a recognized Heartstart School and 145 fifth and sixth-year pupils from the School were presented with certificates, having completed a short course which taught them how to use a defibrillator and administer basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
 
This school year the Heartstart Team is going back to train the current 5th year pupils, which seems to work best for the school curriculum. The training will be carried out during the winter months. In the future Heartstart would also like to train 1st or 2nd year pupils so that the school leavers would be getting more of a refresher than a new course.Lucky2BHere also provided a defibrillator and cabinet on the campus following fundraising by the pupils.                                                                                                                                       
Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland is to use the Portree example as a case study in a bid to encourage similar schemes in schools throughout the country. Portree High School deputy head teacher Kenny Macdonald said experiences at a previous school had shown him how basic training can save lives. In his former school in Johnstone, they offered CPR training and found out how vital it was. One boy had to use CPR on his grandfather, and another two boys helped revive a man who had taken ill while out fishing by a reservoir. If even one pupil is able to use it, then the whole programme is justified. The fact that the project could be delivered relatively cheaply was another of its main selling points,Mr Macdonald says.

PLOCKTON HIGH SCHOOL                                                                                            Plockton High School have also been supplied with a defibrillator and 60, 5th and 6th year pupils have already been trained by Heartstart Lochalsh.

 

 

RAASAY PRIMARY SCHOOL

Raasay primary school pupils who were trained last September. And they have raised funds for Lucky2bhere through a race at their sports day in June 2011. They are the only primary school in our area to be trained in ELS as part of the curriculum for excellence.

THE NEXT PHASE                                                                                                                       
On the 5th of October 2011, pupils from Portree High School accompanied by representatives from Heartstart Skye provided a demonstration of the training they have received in Emergency Life Support (ELS) and the use of defibrillators to members of the Scottish Parliament.This event is part of a campaign led by a coalition of organisations including British Heart Foundation Scotland, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and Lucky2BHere as well as the Scottish Ambulance Service, calling for all children to be taught Emergency Life Support skills in schools, as part of the Curriculum for Excellence. It is hoped that one day the Scottish Government will follow the example of many parts of north America and northern Europe where training in resuscitation and defibrillation forms part of their normal curriculum.

© Lucky2BHere 2011

Powered by Sitekit CMS