LCE Workplace Safety Highlight

LCE recently carried out CPR(Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training for Passage East National School around this time last week, Friday 15th June. Myself and my colleague Alan Coleman attended the school to carry out this training for 5th and 6th class. I have to say that this has been the highlight of my time here in LCE. Not because it was a couple of hours out of the office (that’s always a plus!), not because it was to go back to my old primary school (that was such a lovely trip down memory lane) but because it was such a motivational afternoon – for 3 reasons: Firstly, the school children in Passage East National school were a pleasure to work with. There is of course a touch of bias here as it was my old school and my niece was one of the students!(pictured below with Alan) However, they were brilliant. They really got involved and they were so eager and so interested in learning CPR. They sat and listened to the most important aspects of it but were all very much wanting to get involved and participate in learning how to do it and practice CPR on the dummies. They were up for a bit of fun whilst doing the training – it’s a serious subject but we wanted to keep it somewhat light hearted without terrifying them too much. They really did take it all on board and in their stride, so much so we even gave me them a bit more training on choking and the recovery position as they were that eager to learn. This brings me to the second reason which is my colleague Alan. He too was brilliant, the children got on really well with him. I have seen Alan train myself and he has always received great feedback from his training courses, but I think he definitely excelled himself here. He kept the class engaged by going through the basics in a child friendly manner and kept asking questions to keep them entertained and engaged. I was there to assist Alan with the group as there was about 30 children, but he would have handled them like a pro without me. I was really only there to look pretty – and I’m not even sure I did that bit right 😉 It was great to see Alan and the students interact so well and why they were comfortable enough to take more than just the CPR training in the couple of hours that we were there. Thirdly, the importance of CPR training cannot be underestimated. It is so important, I feel that we all learn this training. I’m not talking from a health and safety perspective here, this is my own personal viewpoint. We had a couple of stories on the day from the children, so they are well aware of what can and will go wrong. This is something the everyone should do – young or old. The 5th & 6th class of Passage East are testament to that and I have to say I loved it. They are a credit to their teacher Ms. Glavey as they were well behaved and listened attentively when necessary, to their school and Ms. O’Neill the principal of Passage East National school and most of all to their parents for being such a great respectful and fun bunch of students. From my colleague Alan and I, thank you – it was an absolute pleasure to work with you all.