New life saving kits for campus

Reaseheath has become the first college to receive defibrillators from The Oliver King Foundation.

Eight of the potentially life saving kits will be placed strategically around campus and will be used in the event of anyone having a cardiac arrest. Thirty-eight staff members are already trained to use them and many more will undergo training.

The Oliver King Foundation was set up in memory of a 12 year old who died from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS), which causes sudden death in apparently healthy young people. Nineteen youngsters a week are lost through the condition.

We raised over £10,000 for The Oliver King Foundation when it was our RAG charity in 2012. The foundation, which has backing from MPs and councillors, aims to put defibrillators in community areas where they will be available to give essential and immediate first aid in the ‘golden’ four minutes following cardiac arrest.

The equipment has been placed in schools in the Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton and Wirral areas and has already been used to help save the lives of three young people. The Foundation plans to expand the scheme throughout the north west and then nationally.  Reaseheath is the first college to benefit by purchasing defibrillators from the charity.

Our Chaplain, Drew Walker, has overseen the project and invited Oliver’s dad Mark King, the charity’s founder, to Reaseheath last week to hand over the equipment personally.

Drew said: “Having the defibrillators readily available on campus will help us in our efforts to provide a completely safe environment for our students, staff and visitors. We’ve already had lots of positive feedback from our involvement with the scheme.”

This year’s RAG charity is St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice.