Heart Foundation Stages CPR Training

The Heart Foundation of Jamaica hosted a successful training session in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on February 25 at its Beechwood Avenue head office, in Kingston.

In an interview with JIS News, Training Coordinator at the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, Alonzo Mothersill, said the training was for non-medical persons, adding that it would equip such persons with life-saving skills that could be used to save a loved one or a colleague.

“Students were taught CPR for the adult, child and infant victim. They were also taught how to use the automated external defibrillator (AED) machine and how to deal with choking for infant, adult and child,” he informed.

Mr. Mothersill explained that the organisation has also designed a CPR training programme for teachers in schools.

“We are encouraging teachers to be trained because once there is an injury on the campus and the school nurse has to leave the premises to go to the hospital, then the school is unmanned. We are trying to get schools on-board at all levels – early childhood, primary and high school,” he said.

Executive Director of the Foundation, Deborah Chen, said the agency was responding to a clear need to have all Jamaicans trained in CPR.

She said this was underscored by the recent deaths of persons from sudden cardiac arrest, without the necessary intervention even being attempted.

“We are concerned that in many cases that we have heard about where persons collapsed, whether in sports or otherwise, there don’t seem to be many cases where the administration of CPR was tried,” she said.

“This is a basic life-saving procedure that is available to us and it was not used, because persons on the scene of these incidents were not trained. It is very important that all Jamaicans learn CPR,” she added.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a life-saving technique useful in many emergencies, including sudden cardiac arrest, in which a person’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped.

The training was one of the activities for Heart Month, which is observed during February. Thirty students were trained in Family and Friends CPR, with the youngest participant being a 14-year-old female high-school student and the oldest being a 67-year-old male.