Lifesaver courses for students as a pilot project
Bless you
Pupils should learn life saving measures in the classroom. This pilot project has now started in Salzburg. In this way, the young people should be relieved of their dread to help in an emergency. Because only every fifth Austrian can or wants to do a heart massage.
The middle school in Obertrum (Flachgau) is one of eleven schools in the state where students are taught resuscitation measures in the project. After a 45-minute block of theory, it goes into practice for heart rhythm massage: “We look for the middle of the sternum, one hand on it, the other above it. Then we stretch our hands very firmly – and then we start with the full weight of our upper body, ”said emergency doctor Bernhard Schnöll to the students.
Basic features of resuscitation measures explained
Schnöll explains the structure of the courses as follows: “The children learn the basics: How do I approach a motionless person? How do I find out what happened to him? How do I protect myself? This is a very important point, especially when it comes to children. How do I make a real emergency call? And then in the end: How do I do a proper chest compressions so that I can bridge the time until a rescue team arrives. “
Because without oxygen supply, permanent damage occurs after just three minutes. However, it takes an average of eight minutes for the ambulance to arrive. If laypeople start resuscitation here, the survival rate increases significantly.
“Inhibition threshold for adults is very high”
“We very often notice that adults’ inhibition threshold is very high,” says the emergency doctor. “It says: What can I do wrong here? And the children have the wonderful quality that they don’t yet have it. Especially at this young age, it is possible to take away their shyness and turn resuscitation into something like a cultural skill – like cycling or swimming, cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be a matter of course for everyone. “
Pilot test with lifesaver courses for schoolchildren
A message that was clearly received by the young participants today: “That is important. We heard today that this is why so many people in Austria are dying. And that’s not good, ”said one of the students. “You have to dare to do it – there is nothing bad to do,” said one student. Therefore, the pilot test by the Red Cross, the state clinics and the state of Salzburg should ultimately also be integrated into regular operations at all school locations.