For the third successive year the college was pleased to welcome representatives from CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), who carried out a large scale screening programme on nearly a hundred of our students. This organisation operates nationally and aims to reduce the frequency of young sudden cardiac death by working with cardiologists and family doctors to establish good practice and appropriate screening facilities. The inspiration for Loreto’s involvement with this very important programme is Karen Merrick, the mum of Josh Merrick, a Loreto student who we lost to the condition in 2013, and who is remembered with great fondness by all who knew him.

The procedure involves each student being weighed, measured and given an ECG by a team of experienced physiologists. A doctor is on hand to offer further guidance if required. CRY conducted its first screening operation twenty years ago and sees over twenty thousand youngsters in schools, colleges, sports clubs and places of work. Its ultimate aim is to make the screening process as familiar to young people as other medical procedures, such as inoculations, BCG/ECG being one of its favoured slogans.

Loreto is proud to support CRY in all its endeavours.