[WATCH] Ministers join students for CPR training
Secondary students from ten colleges in CPR training for ‘European Cardiac Arrest Awareness Week’
Education minister Evarist Bartolo said that good education was not simply about end-of-year examinations, but also about developing important life skills. Bartolo was speaking at a training event organised this morning by the Malta Resuscitation Council (MRC) and Health and Safety Unit in Malta, in aid of the 'European Restart a Heart Day'.
The event, which took place at the Verdala Sports Complex in Cottonera, focused on the importance of non-medical persons knowing how to deliver Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in the case of an emergency.
"Education is not only about those sometimes 'annoying' subjects which we need to study for in order to do well in our exams. A substantial part of our education is also about learning certain skills which will help us throughout the course of our lives. Knowing how to administer CPR is certainly a life skill," he told the students.
Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said that such an event was "a great opportunity" for students to learn more about CPR.
"This is a great opportunity as, in the case of an emergency and in the absence of professionals, the responsibility could fall on you. You should look at it as an opportunity to become leaders," he said.
The Chairperson of the Malta Resuscitation Council, Dr Jonathan Joslin, explained that knowing how to carry out CPR is very important in today's world.
He underlined how it only required a pair of hands but it could determine whether a person lived or not.
The training event was attended by teachers and secondary students from ten colleges.
Glen Aloysio, a fourteen-year-old student of the San Gorg Lyceum in Hamrun and a member of the Red Cross in Malta, was then invited by Joslin to demonstrate how CPR should be carried out.
With the help of Joslin, Aloysio delivered an expert step-by-step guide to CPR.
The students were then divided into separate groups, and with the help of experts, practised on dummies.
Whilst one of her students attempted to 'resuscitate' the dummy, Marisa Azzopardi, a teacher in the Health and Safety department at Maria Regina College expressed to me her opinion on the importance of learning such skills at a young age.
"I think it is crucial that we are taught these things, especially when we're still young. In that way, we grow up having knowledge on such important procedures. The reality is that someone's life can one day depend solely on you. With the proper training, we can be prepared for that," Azzopardi said.
According to the Malta Resuscitation Council, around 350,000 Europeans suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.