Life-saving defib training offered to College students as part of health campaign

All students at Loughborough College (@Lborocollege) will be offered access to free online defibrillator training as part of a national health campaign.

The training will be offered to all students, with targeted sessions for sports students, as part of Leicestershire Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS) Week (4^th-11^th October) which raises awareness and provides life-saving training.

It is being offered by UK Coaching and co-ordinated by College lecturer Steve Wilkinson, a former Leicester City FC player whose team mate Steve Humphries lost his son Joe to SADS in 2012.

Steve Wilkinson said:

“We’re extremely pleased to be offering this free training to our students. With so many sports students, and with recent events in the Euros and closer to home in West Bridgford, possessing these skills could one day prove vital in saving someone’s life.

“The sessions are being offered by UK Coaching but Loughborough College is offering the opportunity to all of its learners.”

The training also forms part of the College’s Talented Athlete Support Scheme (TASS) induction workshops for elite young athletes who have recently joined the College. They will receive in-person training.

Jo Maher, Principal & CEO at Loughborough College, said:

“The health and wellbeing of our students is at the heart of everything we do and I’m extremely pleased that we are able to offer this training across College.

“Equipping young people and adults with life-long, life-saving skills is absolutely part of what we do to enrich our students and the community.”

The Joe Humphries Trust, set up in memory of Joe, also provides a wealth of information about SADS along with ways of getting involved in raising awareness of the condition which claims the lives of around 500 people in the UK each year.