We have fantastic news in that Castle Park Primary School is the first school to receive a fully-funded defibrillator package courtesy of the Kendal Fundraising campaign. 

 

A group of Kendal business women have decided to make it their mission to help equip the 40 schools in Kendal and the surrounding area with AEDs and training to ensure the community is Heart Safe. The Kendal Women in Business group set a goal of £45,000 to fundraise to be able to provide an AED package for every school in the area, having a defib in every school would protect over 9,000 pupils in the school alone along with staff and school workers against the potential risk of a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) which claims the lives of 12 young people every week.

The group will achieve their goal through a combination of fundraising events and corporate donations. In addition to receiving the life-saving equipment, the money raised will also be used to provide training for staff and pupils, giving them a life-skill and the correct knowledge to provide effective first aid in an emergency situaiton.  KWIB organiser Annette Ritson said: "The idea is that the training the children receive can be filtered out to friends and family as they share what they have learned, as well as the skills they have gained themselves."

After raising the funds to install the first defibrillator, Castle Park was selected as the first school to receive the grant. The 353 pupils and the staff and visitors of Castle Park Primary will now be Heart Safe and can react and respond immediately to an emergency situation, should one occur.

School administrator Janice Murray said; "We are really pleased to be selected as the first school to benefit from this campaign. The training for students as well as staff really was an added bonus, it was certainly an engaging and lively course. We hope that the benefits will spread beyond the classroom as they share their experience with friends and family."

We're incredibly proud to be a part of this fantastic commitment and campaign to help create a Heart Safe community in Kendal, we know this defibrillator donation is just the first of many grants which will be donated to the schools in and in the surrounding areas of Kendal.