RCP, find out what it means to me

All roads lead to home, even in Madrid and I was very surprised to meet a Roscommon girl in Madrid last Saturday night. I am from the Leinster side of Athlone but I did live briefly on Connaught Street and was surprised when my new friend from Four Roads, Laura Kelly told me she worked for Shannon Academy.

The Shannon may divide Leinster and Connaught but I hope it can also bring people together as I see Shannon Academy promoting a 24 CPR event in Golden Island. The Madrid Harps were dancing to the Bee Gees at a Gaelic football event on Saturday June 2 and I’m sure many back home in Athlone will be busy singing Staying Alive to a very different beat on June 9th in Golden Island as the Bee Gees song is used in teaching CPR.

Shannon Academy is a language school established in 2001 and I am delighted to see them educating people in basic lifesaving skills such as CPR and the aim of the event, I believe is to show as many as 250 people just how to do CPR and I can't think of better hands-on experience than this one day event.

Working in Spain, I once attended a RCP course and was surprised just how similar CPR in Spanish is to what I have learnt before. Like RCP, in English we have CPR, Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation or Reanimación Cardio Pulmonary in Spanish.

When I hear RCP, I immediately think of the 1967 song by Aretha Franklin, R.E.S.P.E.C.T. where Ms Franklin sang R.E.S.P.E.C.T. find out what it means to me. Of course translating this song is simple, we add an O and get RESPETO.

Sometimes I can’t believe how few differences there are between Spanish and English.

I have taught CPR to children for years so I thought listening to a RCP class could help improve my Spanish poca a poca, little by little. Por Ejemplo, for example boca a boca, I can easily recognise as mouth to mouth.

When we do RCP/ CPR, we immediately call for help, “ayuda” and Look, Listen and Feel, Observar, Escuchar y Sentir. If the person is not breathing, we call 112 and start RCP.

As I always tell children at Water Safety weeks in Athlone Regional Sports Centre, Life saving skills are for life. They can be used in many different situations. Whether it is a heart attack, a person drowning, someone who has been poisoned or suffocated. A person who has been crushed with something falling on them or even an electric shock. RCP or CPR is a universal skill with many things in common which can be used to help someone whether in Ireland or Spain, even if they aren’t bilingüe, bilingual.