By Adeyemi Adeleye/Bolu Akindoyin
The Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF) on Monday trained no fewer than 105 staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on basic life support for victims of cardiac arrest in airports.

Dr Olufemi Mobolaji-Lawal, the Chairman, Executive Council of NHF, said that the training on Automated External Defibrillator (AED) for basic Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) had become very important to safeguard lives.

Mobolaji- Lawal recalled that NHF and other partners had earlier donated some emergency equipment to the FAAN through the Federal Ministry of Health.

He said that ministry had also directed that all the staff of FAAN  be trained.

NHF boss said: “Today is the first of those activities and it is to train staff of FAAN in the basic life support, that is basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“This is the resuscitation of somebody who has slumped, whose heart is not breathing.

“We know that part of that cardiopulmonary resuscitation is the use of the equipment called AED.

“When the heart is breathing ineffectively, it cannot pump blood. This training is to equip FAAN staff on how to resuscitate people that collapse all of a sudden in the airport, and how to use the equipment.”

He said that NHF,  as a Non-Governmental Organisation, had been in the business of educating people and training them on how to live healthy and long.

According to him, the NHF has been donating such equipment to several other organisations and training has been carried out in some companies.

“NHF has been able to do this through partners and we need people to partner with us in order to deliver those trainings,” Mobolaji- Lawal said.

Dr Mutiu Rufai, the Guest Lecturer and a Medical Emergency Care Practitioner, said that cardiopulmonary resuscitation involved a procedure where the rescuer compressed the chest and breath for the victims of cardiac arrest.

Rufai, who noted that emergency cases were two – pre-hospital and in-hospital- said that not up to one per cent of victims of cardiac arrest were being rescued, because of where it happened and lack of training.

“The population of people that know what to do is very small.

“The in-hospital cardiac arrest emergency is better, because people must have been trained and they recognise when it is coming,” the certified instructor under American Heart Association, said.

He said that he had trained no fewer than 30,000 people in various organisations on cardiopulmonary resuscitation involving choking, slump, cardiac arrest and other heart-related diseases.

Also speaking, Dr Bilqis Ibrahim, the General Manager of the Association of Medical Clinics of FAAN, said that beneficiaries were not only FAAN staff but also included other agencies like Customs, Immigration, Police, Air Force, Quarantine among others at the airport.

Describing airports as gateway into the country, Ibrahim said that whenever there was an emergency, workers should know what to do to rescue lives.

One of the participants, Mrs Funke Ojekale, a FAAN staff, who described the training “as very rewarding”, said that it had enhanced her with basic ways to attend to such emergencies, and how to resuscitate the victim within a very short time.

Ojekale, said: “Now, I am in a better position to teach others around me, so that together, we can save lives in emergencies.”

On his own part, Mr Odion Andrew, also a staff of FAAN, who appreciated the organisers, said that he was ready to cascade the training to others.

“This is the essence of the training –  to know and let others know,” he said.  (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Vivian Ihechu