By Gabriel Olawale

Founder, CPR Ready Africa Foundation, Ogochukwu Eze has called on Nigeria government to include basic skills of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, CPR in the school curriculum while admonishing Nigerians to live a healthy lifestyle.

Speaking in Lagos during a 2-days training program to commemorate 2021 World Restart a Heart Day, Ogochukwu said that such decision will help to create more awareness about CPR and avoid unnecessary death.

“Government need to include CPR skill in school curriculum because student should learn this thing as young as 9 years old. If they know it, it become second nature to them.

“She admonished Nigerians to live a healthy life by avoiding some unhealthy lifestyles that can cause cardiovascular diseases, which can lead to Cardiac arrest or heart attack. Cardiac arrest occurs as a result of so many underlying health issues, which is occurs as a result of abnormal level of certain parameter such as high blood pressure, increased blood sugar level, increased cholesterol level in the blood, overweight among other.

But when you put all these under regular check and control, and avoid excessive intake of alcohol and smoking, with focus on exercise and healthy eating, it will go a long way in preventing heart diseases.

Ogochukwu who is a health and safety consultant said she lost her father due to lack of knowledge about CPR, “awareness of CPR in Nigeria is very low. I lost my father due to lack of CPR knowledge and that is why am passionate about creating awareness.

“I didn’t know what was wrong with him and how to help him. By the time I call my elder brother who is a doctor and knowledgeable, it took like an hour before he got to the house and by the time he started chest compression it was too late because in this kind of emergency every seconds counts. So you need someone that is knowledgeable to respond immediately.

She hinted that most time people that need CPR are usually unconscious or unresponsive and not breathing, “then you can start CPR when you are knowledgeable about it.

“Another thing that is important at that moment is that people should not crowd the person because he or she need all the ventilation they can get. If you don’t know how to do CPR you can as well call emergency number 112 and also raise alarm for other people that can help.

Ogochukwu said that CPR Ready Africa Foundation on a mission to reduce death by cardiovascular diseases through commitment to continuous CPR training and awareness on causes and prevention of cardiovascular diseases and general heart health.

“We started 2019 but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our activities so throughout 2020 we couldn’t do much because our activities involve human interaction. We have trained over 300 people in the past and in 2021 we intend to scale it to 1000.”