APPROXIMATELY 92 teachers representing 36 schools in Westmoreland, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay were recently certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) which will enable them to help save students’ lives through the administration of breathing and circulation techniques in emergencies.

The teachers were trained through the Sandals Foundation which arranged for them to be taught by medical practitioners at the hotel closest to their schools.

At the end of the intense one-day training session, the teachers were certified and issued manuals with information on what to do in medical emergencies.

Heidi Clarke, director of programmes for the Sandals Foundation, said the training of the teachers was in keeping with the organisation’s thrust to help increase the capacity of teachers in Jamaica and in the rest of the Caribbean.

A similar project was also undertaken in Turks and Caicos with the training of 100 teachers there.

“We reached out to the schools and we told them what we were trying to do and that we were trying to get as many teachers certified as possible and they recommended the teachers from the specific schools who they wanted trained,” she said.

“They can pretty much help anybody, so whether you are walking down the road or in the school yard, it is a really useful service to be able to provide at anytime and we know unfortunately that it is not easy to get health services when you need it on the spot here.

“If the child is bleeding because they have had an incident on campus, now a teacher knows they can just take something and compress that, versus having to wonder ‘what do I do in a situation like this’?”

Given the training she has received, Principal of the Whitehouse Early Childhood Institution, Elaine Brown, said she feels more equipped to handle emergency situations at her school.

“I have a boy who is epileptic and so the training will come in handy,” she said.

Clarke said that there have been requests for more training sessions, and so the foundation is hoping to have more of these sessions in other Caribbean islands.

“Whether you are a parent, a teacher or just a community member, to be able to save a life is a huge thing, so we definitely would like to have more teachers trained,” she said.