Why Hipperholme and Lightcliffe High School staff are trained to save lives

IT’S a machine powerful enough to light a football stadium.

But a defibrillator is also a life-saving tool and staff at a Calderdale school are now equipped to use the machine and save lives.

Hipperholme and Lightcliffe High School has purchased a defibrillator to have on school grounds.s centre may soon get one of their own.

This week staff were trained to use the defibrillator in case of emergency by Dave Jones, a community defibrillator officer for Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Sonia Fountain, a first aider at the Stoney Lane school, said: “It was the idea of our headteacher and it came after events outside the school area raised awareness of how a defibrillator can save lives.

“I’m a first aider of 20 years and we use first aid in school most days, from dealing with headaches to sports injuries because as a sports college the students are very active.

“We’ve only had twisted wrists or suspected broken collar bones, but it could be more serious.

“We all hope we don’t have to use it, but now we’re prepared for it.”

Dave Jones, of YAS, said the importance of defibrillators was raised after the collapse of Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba on the pitch as his team played Tottenham.

The footballer’s life was saved thanks to a doctor who ran onto the pitch to help and those at a London heart unit where he was treated.

And Dave Jones said every minute helps in saving the life of someone having a cardiac arrest: “If a defibrillator is used in the first two or three minutes of cardiac arrest the person has an 85% chance of surviving – for every minute they lose the chance decreases by 7-10%.

“After the footballer Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch it has highlighted the fact that a lot of young men and adolescent males can have heart troubles without knowing.

“One of these machines gives a shock powerful enough to light a football stadium and they can, and do, save lives.”

Stephen Quick, sports centre manager at the Hipperholme and Lightcliffe school, said it would benefit more than just the school’s pupils: “The sports centre is open to the local community so it will be there to help anyone who comes in.

“We’ve never had an emergency like this before, but at least now we’ll be prepared for it.”

The school purchased with defibrillator in collaboration with Sudden Adult Death Trust (SAD UK), a cardiac charity which aims to save lives by providing medical equipment to prevent premature sudden cardiac death.