Two Donegal schools receive prestigious Irish Heart Foundation award

Two Donegal schools have been recognised with a prestigious Irish Heart Foundation award for training their students in the lifesaving skill of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). 

The Royal and Prior Comprehensive School in Raphoe and St Catherine's Vocational School in Killybegs both received a CPR 4 Schools award, which recognises schools, teachers, and students for their remarkable efforts in promoting and training in CPR. 

They were among 33 schools across Ireland presented with 63 awards as part of the national heart and stroke charity’s CPR 4 Schools programme. Ninety per cent of secondary schools have engaged in the programme since its inception, with 2,630 teachers involved across 649 schools to deliver CPR training, giving the programme a reach of over 350,000 students nationwide.  

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The charity is now calling on all schools to sign up to help build a new generation of lifesavers. The programme trains students to perform CPR and respond in a cardiac emergency, use an AED (defibrillator) and respond when someone is choking.  

Easy to run, it involves one-hour, video-led lessons, fully supported with manikin kits and classroom resources.  Schools benefit by awards recognising their participation and positive student engagement, while families and entire communities gain by having young people emerge as confident lifesavers. 

Brigid Sinnott, Resuscitation Manager with the Irish Heart Foundation, encouraged teachers countrywide to help students obtain essential lifesaving CPR skills. 

“We know that schools are extremely busy places, which makes us all the more blown away by the work and commitment they have put in to teach the lifesaving skill of CPR to date.  The Irish Heart Foundation’s mission is to build a nation of lifesavers through CPR training and schools are vital to help us achieve that. 

“The CPR 4 Schools programme is easy to run and takes just one hour to train a class. Schools and teachers are at the core of this programme and these awards are our way of recognising them for empowering students with a lifesaving skill.” 

Post-primary school teachers interested in signing up for the free programme can register by emailing: schools@irishheart.ie.  

A person’s chance of survival is doubled when CPR is started immediately.  By learning CPR once in your life, you are 10 times more likely to respond to an emergency than someone who has never received training.