School gets one of first local defibrillators

LIFE saver . . . at the defibrillator presentation to Alt Primary School are (back, from the left) Keith Bearcroft and Ryan Scholes of Sainsbury’s Oldham, Gina Harris, from Hand on Heart, (front, from the left) pupils Tyren Divene, Elaina Lees, Melissa Butler and Daniel Broadbent.

Alt primary school has become one of the first in the borough to be given an emergency defibrillator unit in a fundraising exercise with Sainsbury’s

The supermarket adopted Hand on Heart as its charity for the year. Fund-raising events within the store raised the £2,000 needed to buy the portable unit through the charity.

The charity will train eight teachers at the school and work with 30 students to teach them basic life support skills so they can help in an emergency.

Twelve youngsters die each week from sudden cardiac arrest - and eight out of 10 of them have no underlying heart problem.

Gina Harris, fundraising manager for Hand on Heart, said: “We are trying to get defibrillators into as many schools as we can. They are vital equipment that we hope is never needed - but if they are, they could save a life.”

Using a defibrillator within the first three to five minutes of a cardiac arrest increases the chance of survival from six per cent to 74 per cent.

“Any school can nominate themselves to receive a defibrillator on our website and even if a school is not successful, we can help with fundraising ideas to help a school to purchase one.

“So far we have installed 275 defibrillators in schools and not one has had to be used so we see ourselves as a good luck charm,” said Gina.