You may have noticed we recently installed an AED (defibrillator) outside the School Office.

This has been a long term project for the school as we wanted to have this vital piece of lifesaving equipment available for our wider community outside of school hours.

We are extremely grateful to Hato Hone St John (Christchurch Area Committee), Embracing Hearts, a charity that donates automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to schools, and Heart Kids NZ, who support families impacted by childhood heart conditions, who have all assisted us in making this happen. 

When someone goes into cardiac arrest, every second is crucial, and having this piece of lifesaving equipment here at school means it is available for our staff and students, but will also provide reassurance to know it is accessible to our wider community outside of school hours.  

According to Heart Kids NZ, 12 Kiwi children are diagnosed with a heart condition each week. Embracing Hearts is charity who aims to get an AED installed at every school in New Zealand with a heart kid.

Our AED has been added to the AED locations app, making it easy for those in our community to find the device closest to them in an emergency. https://aedlocations.co.nz/

We will be doing an official launch in the coming weeks, and wish to thank  these amazing organisations by holding a mufti day early in Term 3 to help fund AEDs for other schools.  More details to come.

Hato Hone St John will be offering a free 3 Steps for Life awareness session for our school community to help people gain confidence in using the AED if ever needed.   We hope to schedule this for early in Term 3.   More details to come. 

For more information see www.embracinghearts.nz and www.heartkids.org.nz