Call for first aid training for teachers

A local councillor whose life was saved by emergency first-aid when he suffered a cardiac arrest in his home last summer has called for first-aid training to be made compulsory for teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs).
Cllr John Dolan raised the issue in a motion at a recent meeting of the Athlone Municipal District. The story of his near-death experience was told in a report on RTE's 'Ear to the Ground' programme earlier this month.
His motion called on the local authority to write to the Ministers for Health, Education, and Social Protection to “request that legislation be introduced to make occupational first aid training compulsory for all physically able teachers and SNAs, and that it will be fully funded by the Government.”
Cllr Dolan said this law should be called Isabelle's Law, after a six-year-old girl from Kilkenny who has apnoea, which means she can stop breathing at any stage.
Isabelle's mother, Maria Conlon, went public last year with her call for all teachers in Ireland to have CPR and first aid training. 
Cllr Dolan referred to Isabelle's case, saying: “She is ok when she's at home, but there's a fear of what could happen when she's at school. That's not fair on the school's staff and it's not fair on the child.”
He said a statutory response was needed. “All I'm asking is that we correspond with the Departments to ask them that there would be legislation requiring teachers and SNAs to have this training, and that it would be funded (by the Government).”
Cllr Ailish McManus, a primary school teacher, said there was “great merit” in the Cllr Dolan's motion.
She said it would be good for teachers to receive first-aid training and that there would have to be 'refresher' courses each year to ensure the training was up-to-date.
However, she said she would not agree with first aid interventions becoming compulsory for school staff.
“As a teacher, I wouldn't like to see the adminstration of first aid being made compulsory... teachers would have to be willing to carry out that (first aid) intervention themselves.”   
She also highlighted the importance of funding being provided for first-aid training, saying that in her school there was a case two years ago of child with severe epilepsy and there was a €500 cost for each teacher and SNA in the school to receive training around the child's condition.
“(The training) was specific to that individual case, and the next child with epilepsy might have completely different needs,” she said.
Cllr Michael O'Brien spoke in favour of the motion, saying occupational first-aid training was something he would like to see “rolled out right across industry, not just in education.”
Several of the councillors commented on how fitting it was that this motion had been brought forward by Cllr Dolan.
Cllr Paul Hogan said he had watched the 'Ear to the Ground' programme which looked at Cllr Dolan's story and the work being done to respond to cardiac problems among the farming community. “I think this motion adds to that discuission,” he said.
He added that he had received defibrillator training and first aid training. “It was something I hoped I would never have to use. Unfortunately, a situation arose where I did have to use it.”
Cllr Frankie Keena also “commended” Cllr Dolan's motion and said funding “should not be an issue” when it came to something as serious as this.
Cllr Dolan thanked his fellow councillors for their support and it was agreed that the Athlone Municipal District would write to the Government Departments requesting that the compulsory first-aid training for teachers be introduced.