Hospital da Luz Póvoa de Varzim launched in April the initiative “ Para uma Escola mais Segura – Juntos vamos salvar vidas ” (For a Safer School – Let’s save lives together) , involving three schools in the area. The purpose is to give training in BLS (Basic Life Support) manoeuvres to hundreds of students, increasing the skills of the population in the area and thus contributing to the reduction of one of the major causes of death in the world: cardiorespiratory arrest. The training sessions are provided by a team of nurses from Hospital da Luz Póvoa de Varzim, with specialization in BLS with AED (automated external defibrillation) device, and certification by INEM: Ana Filipa Santos, Ana Pinto, Sara Queirós and Sónia Cancela. The training sessions in BLS manoeuvres are given to groups of 20 students (from the seventh to twelfth grade, selected by the schools) and comprise the following educational establishments: Escola Secundária Rocha Peixoto (above, in the photo); Escola Secundária Eça de Queirós; Colégio do Forte (Vila do Conde). This Hospital da Luz Póvoa de Varzim project will be developed along the following months and includes the delivery – to the three referred schools and to Colégio de Amorim – of a few AED devices, but this in the context of a partnership with the Portuguese Foundation of Cardiology. Para uma Escola mais Segura – Juntos vamos salvar vidas! (For a Safer School – Let’s save lives together) Every 90 seconds, a person is estimated to go into cardiorespiratory arrest, which is one of the major causes of death worldwide. The BLS manoeuvres increase substantially the chances of survival of the victims, when initiated in the first minutes after the cardiac arrest. The majority of the population, however, does not know what those manoeuvres are. On the other hand, according to recent data reported by INEM, only 200 out of the 5,000 educational establishments in Portugal have an AED device. It is with great joy and enthusiasm that Hospital da Luz Póvoa de Varzim joins this cause. We are certain that this initiative will be an asset for the schools in this region and for the community in general , for everyone will be more prepared to deal with situations of cardiorespiratory arrest.
