Avon School pupils learn CPR as part of Hato Hone St John’s Save Your Teddy campaign

Senior and junior pupils from Avon School practice their CPR skills as part of Hato Hone St John’s Save Your Teddy campaign. Photo / Alyssa Smith

The earworm Baby Shark may be annoying, but it can help save a life.

Tamariki at Avon School in Stratford were singing about Baby Shark and his equally annoying family to help them learn the rhythm of movement needed when performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The youngsters were practising CPR as part of Hato Hone St John’s Save Your Teddy campaign, with Avon School one of 62 schools across the country taking part.

The nationwide initiative, which coincides with St John’s annual CPR awareness month, “Shocktober”, gets tamariki to bring their favourite teddies into school and practise CPR on them. This year, 6307 students learned how to assist when someone goes into cardiac arrest by getting hands-on practice with their favourite teddy bear as part of the internationally recognised World Restart a Heart Day.

Avon School senior students Taane Kiri, 11, Shayla O’Donovan, 11, Charlie Ross-Poni-Whakamarurangi and her sister Pippa, both 12, helped teach junior pupils what to do in an emergency as part of the campaign.

Taane said the first thing to do in an emergency is call 111.

“You have to make sure you don’t panic. We also told them to ask their parents for their street and house number, as that information is important in an emergency.”

Pippa said they had the juniors sing Baby Shark as they practised CPR.

“It was the perfect song to use because all the kids know it and it has the right rhythm. We showed them how to put their hands together before placing them on the person’s chest and pushing down to help them breathe. You have to do a certain amount of pushes per minute and the Baby Shark song matches up with that. I will admit, the song does get stuck in your head, though.”

Charlie said it’s better to learn CPR sooner rather than later.

“You never know when you’ll need to use it.”

Shayla O’Donovan, 11, said knowing how to react in an emergency is important.

“We want to save people who are in trouble.”

For junior pupils Harmony Tako-Taputoro, 6, and Macey Simons, 5, learning how to do CPR with their teddies was fun.

Harmony said it was enjoyable.

“I liked learning it.”

Macey said she liked the song.

“It was funny when we were all singing it.”

Principal Lisa Hill said the pupils were learning valuable skills.

“It’s so important that our tamariki know what to do in an emergency and how they can help. Every little bit makes a difference.”

Cardiac arrest is still one of Aotearoa’s biggest killers. Seven people a day are treated for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in New Zealand – that’s more than 2000 per year, with males dominating the gender statistics by 68%, compared to 32% female.

Twenty-three percent of patients survive the event and have a pulse on arrival at hospital – however, only 11% of patients survive. The numbers are worse for Māori (25% lower survival rate than non-Māori) and Pasifika people (33% lower survival rate than non-Pacific people), who are more likely to suffer a cardiac arrest earlier in life.

Seventy-six percent of patients receive bystander CPR and 6% receive defibrillation by a community responder prior to ambulance arrival, which is why it’s so important to educate as many people as possible through the “3 Steps For Life” programme.

Step one: Call 111.

Step two: Start CPR.

Step three: Use an automated external defribrillator (AED).