Lions give schools the gift of life saving
Crawley Lions donate defibrillators to schools Picture by Gary Davies
Crawley Lions has gifted four secondary schools with life saving equipment and training.
Thomas Bennet Community College, Holy Trinity C of E School, Oriel High School and St Wilfrid’s Catholic School were presented with defibrillators worth £695 each.
A defibrillator is a piece of equipment which administers electric shocks to victims of cardiac arrest.
The machine works out what rate of electric shock the casualty needs to restart their heart.
Two members of staff from each school was given three hours of training on how to treat someone suffering a cardiac arrest.
Jane Chinn, student services officer at Holy Trinity School said she thought it was fantastic that Crawly Lions had opted to provide schools with this these machines.
She said: “To know you can double someone’s chances of surviving is amazing.”
Geraint Jones, head of PE at Thomas Bennett, added: “The extremely generous offer of the Crawley Lions was one we gratefully received and are extremely thankful for.
“Our intention is to train all staff to recognise the signs of a heart attack and cardiac arrest, and roll out training in the use of the equipment across the whole school staff.
“We are also keen to extend this training to our pupils and intend to use the pastoral curriculum to develop an awareness and confidence in our school community.”
Crawley Lion Gary Davies said the decision to donate the machines was inspired by the experience of Bolton Wanderers player Fabrice Muamba, who suffered a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup match in March 2012.
Gary said: “These machines, we are hoping, will never ever get used but they are incredibly important to have in case of an emergency.”
Robin Shepherd, director at The Defib Centre, based in West Sussex, gave the training and explained why the equipment is so worth while.
He said: “More people die from cardiac arrest than from lung cancer, breast cancer, stroke and AIDS combined.
“If you use a defibrillator in the first five minutes of cardiac arrest it can increase the casualty’s chances of surviving from five per cent to 74 per cent.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Crawley
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 6 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
