Teachers and children at Sunderland school go the extra mile to install life-saving community defibrillator

Staff and children at Dubmire Primary Academy have raised over £1,300 to complete the installation of a life-saving defibrillator to potentially help save the lives of people in the local community.

The school have already raised the money to purchase the life-saving equipment but needed to raise extra funds to buy the cabinet to house the device which will be installed on the outside of the school gates, ensuring access for people living in the area as well as those working at Dubmire.

To help raise the vital funds, on Sunday (May 12) 12 members of staff ran the Sunderland 10k.

To support the teachers with their sponsorship, on Friday May 10 the school also hosted a Wear Red Day where pupils made a small donation to arrive to school dressed in red.

Assistant headteacher Helen Anderson said: “The staff who ran the 10k yesterday had a great day. The school has owned its own defibrillator for a while now but we wanted to make the device available for the whole community to use, even when the school is closed. 

“I am so grateful to the staff who ran and those who came to support us. The staff, parents and children have already raised over £1300 with donations still coming in today (May 13).”  

Helping with the installation of the defibrillator is North East heart charity, The Red Sky Foundation.

The Foundation raises vital funds for “babies, children and adults, who are born with or develop heart conditions and who are in need of cardiac care, by providing lifelong support to them and their families”.

Any additional funds raised will go to support the charity.

Foundation founder, Sergio Petrucci said: “We are delighted to be working with Dubmire Primary Academy in their fundraising efforts to create a safer community for their local area. 

“We enjoyed our visit to the school to talk to the children and look forward to continuing our work with the staff, parents and children.”  

In the North East there are 2,300 out of hospital cardiac arrests each year. Early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation can more than double the chances of survival.

Every minute without (CPR) and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by up to ten per cent.