Irish Heart Foundation CPR training supported the Covid-19 vaccination programme

The Irish Heart Foundation facilitated the training of more than 80,000 people in life-saving CPR last year, according to the latest figures.

A total of 81,120 people were trained in CPR across the country in 2021,  and this number does not include the thousands of students trained through the Irish Heart Foundation’s CPR 4 Schools programme.

The vast majority of  the 81,120 people trained in CPR last year were healthcare workers some of whom were taking part in the national Covid-19 vaccination effort and the Irish Heart Foundation was proud to help with this hugely important campaign.

While healthcare professionals accounted for the majority of people trained in CPR a proportion of those who underwent CPR training were members of the public who were trained in the community. Community First Responder groups were stood down in 2020 however, in 2021 they started to retrain and respond to cardiac arrest and choking calls once again.

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on community CPR training in 2021 and this was evident from the drop in numbers trained in this cohort.

The Irish Heart Foundation has 214 affiliated training courses around the country where members of the public and healthcare professionals receive training in the standardised CPR training courses developed by the American Heart Association (AHA), the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC), and the Irish Heart Foundation.

Commenting Brigid Sinnott, Head of Resus at the Irish Heart Foundation said, “It’s great to see such huge numbers trained even during the pandemic. In 2022 we will try and increase community training. We noted that the first six months of 2021 had more than double the training done since July we attribute this to omicron and cancellation of courses and redeployment of hospital staff.”

The emergency services responded to a total of 2,638 cardiac arrests in the community in 2020 of which 75 per cent occurred in the home. CPR is a vital step in the chain of survival after a cardiac arrest. If you have been taught CPR , you are 10 times more likely to respond appropriately.

By knowing how to perform CPR you can double or even triple someone’s chances of survival from a cardiac arrest.

Learn more about CPR here.