It promises to be one of the biggest games of the year for Munster Rugby on Saturday but when the team run out on the Thomond Park pitch against Toulon, the familiar Bank of Ireland branding will be missing from their shirt front.
Bank of Ireland is swapping its logo for that of the Irish Heart Foundation on Saturday for Munster and in one of the upcoming PRO14 Final Series Games for Leinster in May.
It is doing so in order to raise awareness and funds for the charity’s CPR 4 Schools programme. The training programme equips secondary school teachers and students with the skills to deliver lifesaving CPR. The Irish Heart Foundation, supported by Bank of Ireland, hopes to train over 300,000 second level students in this lifesaving skill by June 2019.
Spectators at both games can text to donate €4, the cost of providing one secondary school student with lifesaving CPR skills. Every €4 will be matched by Bank of Ireland up to €80,000.
“The logo swap with the Irish Heart Foundation aims to raise awareness of the CPR 4 Schools programme and the importance of this training for teachers and students,” said Gavin Kelly, Chief Executive Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland pictured above with students from Ardscoil Rath Iomghain in Kildare who have been through the programme.
“By starting CPR immediately in an incident of cardiac arrest, the victim’s chance of survival can be doubled, so training in schools is hugely important.”
“We hope that by raising the profile of the Irish Heart Foundation in this way that we will encourage as many spectators as possible to text to donate €4 which will be matched by the bank up to €80,000.”
“If we can reach that target in the coming weeks it will enable training for an extra 20,000 students.”
“We are incredibly proud that the Leinster and Munster teams will tog out with the Irish Heart Foundation logo across their jerseys and we would like to thank Bank of Ireland for providing the opportunity to take over their sponsorship for the day.”
“Schools are an ideal setting to reach all young people and help reduce premature death and disability from heart disease and stroke which is Ireland’s number one killer. This programme teaches students to recognise cardiac arrest early, call emergency services, perform CPR and how to use an AED.”
The Irish Heart Foundation’s CPR 4 Schools team delivers expert training via education centres to teachers who are then provided with an online programme which can be taught effectively in the classroom. In addition, the Irish Heart Foundation provides schools with free kits worth €600 with training manikins to encourage hands-on practice.
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