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photo of students in halls being taught CPR skills by local organisation Heartwize

18 Oct 2018

Students get ‘heart wise’ and arm themselves with life-saving skills

More than 400 students have learnt how to perform crucial first aid thanks to the efforts of a dedicated Hall Chair.

Student Lukasz Torzewski, the Hall Chair of Robert Bakewell, and volunteers from the organisation Heartwize led numerous training sessions last month in preparation for the start of the academic year.

Hall Committees at Robert Bakewell, Telford, Harry French, Falkner Eggington, William Morris and David Collett were taught the ‘Train a Trainer’ syllabus by Heartwize.

This enabled them to learn the skills necessary to then teach their own groups of helpers for Freshers’, under the supervision of Heartwize volunteers.

This method not only helped the halls in preparation for moving-in days but also strengthened communication and teamwork skills between the halls committees and helpers.

Speaking about what motivated him to launch the initiative, Lukasz said: “I used to teach first aid when I was in the Air Cadet Organisation, and I was also unfortunate enough to have to make use of my skills on the second night of my Freshers’ back in 2015.

“This is why I knew it was important that people at least know the basics of first aid when at University.”

Lukasz, who volunteers with Heartwize, said of the training sessions: “Not only did the students thrive on the experience, but the Heartwize staff were impressed by the initiative and really enjoyed teaching and supporting newly qualified trainers.

“We teach hoping the skills will never need to be practised but believing if the time comes, they do indeed save lives.”

Loughborough University, Loughborough Students’ Union and the British Heart Foundation also hosted a CPR training event earlier this year called Heart2Heart which equipped more than 1,000 staff, students and members of the community with life-saving skills. More on that event can be found here.