Almost 120,000 people trained in life-saving CPR in the past 12 months

A record number of people across Ireland have been trained in life saving Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in the last year.

The Irish Heart Foundation, through its CPR instructor network, has trained almost 120,000 people in life-saving CPR in the past 12 months, setting a new record and almost doubling the numbers of people trained in the same period in 2016.

The most recent figures complied just last week, have confirmed that 117,069 people in Ireland were trained in CPR through the Irish Heart Foundation network from July 2017 to June 30, 2018.

The figure of 117,069 is a significant increase on the 80,000 trained between 01 July 2016 and 30 June 2017, and almost double the 65,000 trained in the same period in 2015/2016.

Of the 117,069 members of the public trained in the last 12 months, almost a third or 44,000, were trained by the Irish Heart Foundation’s CPR 4 Schools programme while the remainder were trained by 2,145 Irish Heart Foundation CPR instructors at 196 affiliated training sites throughout the country. These sites are affiliated to the Irish Heart Foundation’s CPR programme and teach the standardised CPR courses developed by the American Heart Association (AHA), the Pre Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC) and the Irish Heart Foundation.

The Irish Heart Foundation’s CPR 4 Schools programme provides secondary school teachers with free training, kits, and resources to deliver the programme via an online portal of training videos and step by step lesson plans.

Commenting on the latest figures Brigid Sinnott, Basic Life Skills (BLS) Coordinator with the Irish Heart Foundation said, the record numbers are proof that awareness campaigns about the importance of learning CPR are working and members of the public in Ireland appreciate the importance of acquiring this life-saving, lifelong skill.

“Once you have learned CPR at some stage in your life you are ten times more likely to respond in the event of a cardiac arrest than someone who hasn’t, and you are also more likely to respond and to do a much better job than someone who has never learned CPR,” she said.

“It is local communities in Ireland that are taking responsibility for this. We all know the ambulance service cannot be at every village crossroads waiting for an event. I think people are realising that if you get in and do something, it does help. You can do no damage and you may save a life,” Brigid added.

Every year in Ireland 5,000 lives are lost or 13 a day due to sudden cardiac arrest. Starting CPR can double if not triple a person’s chance of survival and in the event of a collapse from cardiac arrest, every minute is vital. Without CPR or defibrillation, the chance of survival falls by up to 10 per cent a minute and after just 5 minutes, the person may only have a 50 per cent chance of survival.