West Rolleston Primary School entered to win an AED through the Become a Heart Saver campaign after a few near misses in the area prompted 47 parents to ask for help.
Six weeks ago West Rolleston resident Melissa Sole suffered a cardiac arrest while feeding her baby on her bed. Her husband Aaron Sole arrived home to find her unresponsive and gasping for air and provided CPR until the paramedics arrived with an AED (automated external defibrillator) and were able to restart her pulse.
“We were really lucky that night and we’re feeling very lucky now to have won this AED,” says Melissa. “I’ve got two kids at the school and it’s great to know we have one on this side of town now. An AED is quite expensive to fundraise for and to save someone’s life with this one would be amazing.”
The school was already looking into fundraising for an AED before Melissa’s experience brought everything a little bit closer to home.
“When I tabled the idea of us fundraising for an AED, another parent mentioned the Become a Heart Saver competition so we spread the word around and everyone wanted to make a submission,” say school principal Sylvia Fidow.
West Rolleston Primary School opened last year and has 324 children, 16 teachers and 10 support staff. They also support a satellite branch of Waitaha Special School with 16 children who have special learning needs. The nearest AED to the school is ten minutes’ drive away.
Last term a child experienced a seizure at the school which prompted the PTA to look at ways they could improve the resources available to their community. “We have a really supportive community out here and it is great to be able to provide this resource for them.”
Heart Saver, Cigna and GrownUps are pleased to donate an AED 7000 to West Rolleston Primary school and give their community peace of mind that help is now closer to hand. Sylvia reports that the AED will be stored in an area where it can be easily accessed even outside of school hours.
