Hospital da Luz Guimarães offered an automated external defibrillator (AED) to Caldas de Vizela Elementary School and along the next months students, teachers and collaborators of this educational establishment will receive training in Basic Life Support (BLS). This is an initiative of social responsibility by Hospital da Luz, integrated in the project “For a safer school – Let’s save lives together”. The AED delivery ceremony happened on October 22, with the presence of Victor Hugo Salgado, president of Vizela Municipality, Maria Agostinha Ribeiro de Freitas, councillor of Education, Miguel Valério, from Fermédica, and Sérgio Viana, Ana Abreu and Carlos Guimarães, respectively managing director, general director and clinical director of Hospital da Luz Guimarães. Fátima Cepeda Gonçalves, director of Caldas de Vizela school group, and the president of the municipality thanked for the offer and complimented Hospital da Luz for the project. Cardiorespiratory arrest is one of the major causes of death all over the world and BLS manoeuvres and the resort to AED increase substantially the chances of survival of the victims, when applied in the first minutes after cardiac arrest. According to INEM data, the large majority of teaching establishments in Portugal does not have AED equipment available. The project “For a safer school – Let’s save lives together”: Has for goal to train the community in BLS manoeuvres to children and adults, besides raising awareness towards a culture of safety. Was launched in 2022, in Póvoa de Varzim and Vila do Conde, where four schools are already equipped with AED. In the meanwhile, it was extended to two more schools in Amarante and Cerveira, two schools in Guimarães, and now a school in Caldas de Vizela. In partnership with Fermédica, Hospital da Luz provides specific training sessions for certification in the use of AED, destined to school staff. The AED equipment and the training represent a decisive added value for these schools , that from now on will be prepared to face situations of cardiorespiratory arrest with the adequate equipment and technical knowledge. Hospital da Luz Guimarães promotes regularly near the community initiatives of education for health. You are free to follow our projects on social media or at www.hospitaldaluz.pt/guimaraes/pt .
