Community CPR & AED Workshops
Free two-hour hands-on sessions in parish halls, GAA clubs and workplaces. No jargon, no cost, no experience needed.
Ennis, Co. Clare · Serving all of Munster
Every second counts.
So does every neighbour.
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival in rural Ireland depends on the person standing closest. Since 2011 we have trained the people of Munster to be that person — and put a defibrillator within reach when they need one.
Our impact, counted honestly
Numbers from the ground up
Figures reviewed monthly by our board and published in full in our annual report.
- 14,286
- Community members trained in CPR
- 212
- Public defibrillators funded & installed
- 1,940
- Families supported after a cardiac event
- 63
- Towns and villages with a 24/7 AED
Our mission
Heart care shouldn't depend on your postcode.
A cardiac arrest in Ennis city centre and one on a boreen outside Carrigaholt are the same medical emergency with very different odds. Ambulance response times in rural Munster can stretch past twenty minutes. Survival, in those minutes, belongs entirely to bystanders.
So we work at the level of the parish. We teach compressions in the same halls where people play bingo and hold funerals. We help committees raise the cost of an AED cabinet and then keep it serviced. We sit with people the week after their stent, when the fear arrives.
Active programmes
Four things we do, all year, everywhere
Cardiac Patient Support Groups
Monthly circles in Ennis, Limerick and Tralee where people who have lived through a heart event meet, talk and walk together.
Youth Vascular Health Education
Transition Year modules delivered in 48 Munster secondary schools, teaching compressions, risk factors and lifelong habits.
Heart Healthy Living Seminars
Evening talks with cardiac nurses and dietitians on blood pressure, cholesterol, sleep, stress and quitting smoking.
Community stories
“Tom went down in the kitchen on a Tuesday morning. I'd done the workshop in the Temple Gate the November before and I still don't know how my hands knew what to do. They just did. He's upstairs now, giving out about the hedge.”
Mairéad Ní Chonaill — Ennis, Co. Clare
Mairéad now hosts three workshops a year in her own parish. Eleven of the people she has trained have gone on to perform CPR in a real emergency. This is what we mean by community resilience: it multiplies.
Latest news
From the field
12 June 2026
Kilrush becomes our 63rd 24/7 defibrillator town
Local businesses on Frances Street matched our grant within nine days, funding a cabinet outside the old market house.
28 May 2026
Cliffs of Moher Heart Walk raises €41,300
Over 700 walkers turned out in typical Clare weather. Every euro goes to cardiac rehab equipment in the Mid-West.
3 April 2026
New Gaeilge CPR resources launched
Our full workshop pack is now available as Gaeilge for Gaeltacht communities in West Kerry and Cork.
€60 trains a full parish hall.
€1,450 places a defibrillator on a wall for a decade. Whatever you can give stays in Munster and goes to work within weeks.
RCN 20081706 · Ennis, Co. Clare