Pulses pumping on the piazza: Warwick lifesaving stage 24 hour CPR marathon for charity

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n Tuesday 19 January, University of Warwick Lifesaving took part in 24-hour CPR Marathon out on the piazza to raise money for The Royal Lifesaving Society. Warwick Lifesaving trains people in first aid, lifeguarding, and lifesaving as well as competing in lifesaving competitions at a university, national, and international level.

The event was inspired by the Lifesaving Club’s own experience of the dangers of water last year. In a nearly tragic accident one of the clubs members collapsed at the bottom of an unguarded pool. Warwick Lifesaving’s President Benjamin Prime remembers: “it just really enforced why we do this sport and how important it is for everyone to know just a little bit of first aid, you never really know what scenario you will find yourself in tomorrow.” From this day onwards the club decided to raise awareness and teach people some basic first aid, as well as raising money for the RLSS.

For a small club like Warwick Lifesaving, this was a momentous task to undertake and members were incredibly committed. Shifts were for a minimum of four hours each, but many members stayed in the piazza for 15 hours continuously. CPR is ordinarily carried out by an individual rescuer for a maximum of eight minutes, in extreme circumstances. Most members preformed CPR on the manikins in 15 minute turns. However, two club members, Nic Miller and Mike Ducker managed to preform CPR continuously for over an hour, an amazing feat. Training officer Andrew Scoones said that “after several hours hands and knees were bruised and swollen and fingers were blistering”, while a member was performing CPR under the gazebo, other members were talking to people in the piazza about the importance of First Aid and asking them to donate to the cause. Passers-by were incredibly generous giving both financial and emotional support, including hot chocolate to keep them warm.

The event was inspired by the Lifesaving Club’s own experience of the dangers of water last year. In a nearly tragic accident one of the clubs members collapsed at the bottom of an unguarded pool.

A cold night in January maybe wasn’t the best 24 hours to pick and by 2am two of the adult manikins had become unusable having frozen over, whilst club members had taken to running up and down the piazza steps to keep warm. the time between 2am and 6am when many club members had retreated to bed and those left were really feeling the freezing temperatures, was one of the hardest”, Andrew Scoones.

As 9am drew closer the club pulled together to give it one final push, with warm cups of coffee sustaining them to the end. Towards midday Wednesday the club reported to have raised over £680, with over £300 alone coming from bucket donations.

After the event India Pollard, Social Secretary and Competition Co-Ordinator said “We are incredibly grateful for all the support we were shown, from the SU tech team lending us their speakers, those early morning people on campus bringing us coffee, those who gave us a few minutes of their day to learn the importance of CPR, and especially those who donated. We are a small club and this was a great way for us to raise awareness of lifesaving as well as fundraising for a fantastic cause. We will definitely try another CPR marathon, although hopefully the next one will be in the warmer months!”