Pupils show heart to learn life skills

ATegan Fisher, 10, is one of the first 100 Glasgow schoolchildren to take part in the project – supported by the Evening Times Streets Ahead campaign.

And she understands more than most why it’s so important.

“My dad had a heart attack when I was five,” she explains. “I remember it being very scary, and my mum was upset and worried. We were lucky because my dad was okay afterwards and he is fine now.”

Tegan adds: “I want to learn how to save a life because then if it happened to my dad again, I would be able to help him.”

In Scotland each year, around 3500 people suffer an out-ofhospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and an average of only five per cent – just 175 – survive.

The Scottish Government wants to at least double this rate by equipping half a million people with cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills by 2020.

At Blackfriars Primary in Gorbals this week, CPR means something else, as Tegan and her friends Nuha Abdulla, Karis McVicar and Amber Akbar, are keen to explain.

“CPR means call, push, rescue because what you have to do if you see someone having a heart attack, is call 999, start pushing their chest and also give them rescue breaths of air in their mouths,” says Nuha.

“You don’t have to do the mouth-to-mouth breaths – the best bit to keep someone alive is pushing on the chest,” adds Karis.

The sessions at Blackfriars Primary are being run by our Streets Ahead partner the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), which is committed to supporting the Scottish Government’s strategy on OHCA.

Through a pioneering partner- ship with the British Heart Foundation, the charity donated CPR kits to all 356 of Scotland’s fire stations.

These stations now serve as a base for members of the public t visit and learn life-saving skills using a self-teach DVD and mannequin.

Blackfriars Primary is the firs school in Glasgow to take part a head teacher Sandra McCleary i delighted to be supporting the initiative.

“The statistics really shocked me,” she explains. “This could happen to people out there in ou community, and we want to help our pupils and teachers be more

Pupils at Blackfriars Primary School in Gorbals, Glasgow, are being taught lifesaving skills by firefighters as part of a new campaign to teach people in the community what to do if they see someone having a heart attack