Sunderland school learns chain of survival skills

Thornhill School, Business and Enterprise College in Sunderland has become one of the first schools in Britain to purchase a defibrillator for use in the community.

Thornhill School, Business and Enterprise College in Sunderland has become one of the first schools in Britain to purchase a defibrillator for use in the community.

Six Thornhill staff are learning to become Community First Responders and pupils are being taught life-saving "Chain of Survival" skills to raise their awareness of what action to take in a medical emergency.

Community First Responders are volunteers who are trained, usually by their local Ambulance Service, to administer CPR, defibrillation and other basic but potentially life saving treatment.

When trained and kitted out with the appropriate medical equipment, Community First Responders are alerted by the Ambulance Service to attend patients with emergencies such as sudden chest pain, suspected SCA, breathing difficulties and unconsciousness.

In situations like these, every second counts and prompt treatment, administered before the arrival of the ambulance, can mean the difference between life and death for the patient.

Community First Responder Schemes complement rather than replace the services of paramedics and reports to date have already proved them to be highly successful.

Joy Howden, a PE teacher at Thornhill, realized the importance of early defibrillation and other life-saving skills during a recent first aid course run by Heart Start, part of the British Heart Foundation.

She explains, "Learning how to use a Laerdal HeartStart First Aid Defibrillator has given me the confidence to use a defibrillator should the situation arise".

"The training I did made me want to take the school's "Good Citizenship" curriculum programme a little further".

"Even if we can save just one life in our community, it's worth it." She added, "If we can teach our schoolchildren to recognize the signs and symptoms of a sudden cardiac arrest, and give them the skills to save lives, we are teaching them to be useful community members in addition to giving them academic skills and qualifications".

Thornhill pupils raised more than GBP1,700 through sponsored bag packs at a local supermarket to purchase a Laerdal Heartstart First Aid Defibrillator.

Joy commented "In my opinion, the HeartStart First Aid Defibrillator is the best defibrillator for non-professionals to use as it is very easy to use and takes away the need for decision-making".

"It gives you clear, audible instructions every step of the way; it monitors the heart and will only shock if necessary".

The six staff at Thornhill School will be trained to use the HeartStart defibrillator, but all pupils between the ages of 15 and 16 will be taught defibrillator awareness, CPR and other basic life-saving skills.

Joy hopes that having the defibrillator on board in addition to the enhanced first aid training that the pupils and staff receive, will help to upgrade Thornhill's "Healthy School" recognition from bronze to silver.

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