We should lead the way with mandatory CPR lessons, says MSP Move urged after quick-thinking Amy, 13, saves man’s life
An MSP wants to see all secondary school pupils in Renfrewshire receive mandatory CPR training after a 13-year-old girl saved the life of a man dying at the side of a road in Erskine.
Quick- thinking Amy Holding was walking to a bus stop with a group of friends when she saw a man lying unconscious on the grass at Portessie.
After realising he wasn’t breathing, cool-headed Amy called an ambulance before performing CPR.
When paramedics arrived, they said her actions had resulted in saving the man’s life.
Renfrewshire North & West MSP Derek Mackay has praised Amy’s “fantastic” story but warns that not all youngsters would have the knowledge – or courage – to perform lifesaving CPR.
Mr Mackay told the Paisley Daily Express: “Amy’s story is fantastic and it is right she gets the plaudits she is receiving.
“However, not everyone would know what to do in such a situation and act as calmly as she and her friends did.
“It would therefore be great if CPR training was made mandatory for all secondary school pupils.”
Mr Mackay is now urging Renfrewshire Council to become the first local authority in the UK to make CPR training compulsory in all its secondary schools.
He said: “It has the potential to save someone’s life, like Amy and her friends did.
“It can also help raise awareness among young people of the type of heart conditions that can strike at any time.
Every year, around 3,500 Scottish people of all ages and backgrounds have resuscitation attempted after their heart stops suddenly and they suffer a cardiac arrest. Currently only 1 in 20 survive. In areas of the world where bystander CPR is the norm, up to 20 per cent of people go home alive after a cardiac arrest.
Survival rates for witnessed cardiac arrests are among the highest - 46 per cent - in Seattle, where schools have been teaching CPR for over 35 years.
Mr Mackay wants to see the same emergency life support skills become part of the national curriculum in Renfrewshire.
He said: “This is the kind of life skill that would benefit all young people for the rest of their own lives, and I hope the council can seriously consider this.
“Renfrewshire can lead the way on this.”