It started with Illinois enacting a law requiring CPR be taught in high school, and it’s catching like wild fire around the country.

While not many high school students will suffer from cardiac arrest, their parents or grandparents are in a higher percentage category. Some of the questions, or misunderstandings surrounding this new wave of legislation should be addressed.

Can CPR hurt someone if does incorrectly? While most states have a Good Samaritan law protecting volunteers who offer assistance, the bottom line is that any help is better than no help. Keep in mind, the cardiac arrest victim has died, you can’t make the situation any worse.

Training is expensive. Not true. Many schools can partner with organizations that offer training for a small amount, or free. Remember, you don’t have to be certified in CPR to perform it in an emergency. It’s primarily jobs that require certification.

Won’t instruction take away from the real curriculum? Actually, effective instruction for hands-only CPR can be done in as little as thirty minutes.

Can a teenager really perform CPR? Recently an 11 year old girl in 5th grade saved her Grandmother’s life doing hands-only CPR.

It’s a step by step instruction guide for CPR. On the spot! The little red wheel-looking gadget almost looks like a toy. But it may just be the next best thing to learning CPR.

This new medical device takes the guesswork out of CPR, and puts power in the hands of those ready to offer assistance.

It’s called the CPR RSQ assist device, and Dr. Robert Tober was a consultant on the product.

“It says to you who may not have had CPR,” said Tober, “Who may have had CPR two or three years ago and you don’t remember a thing that it’s pretty easy. 911. Stay calm.”

It’s pretty simple really—push the button and it offers instructions.

It’s never too soon to start teaching your children CPR.

When Kendall, 11, heard noises coming from her grandmother, she didn’t hesitate.

“I heard these weird noises, so I turned my head and it was my nana, and she was drenched in sweat, so I turned her over and ran to her side and started to do CPR,” explained Kendall.

The paramedics were surprised to find such a young person handling such a serious emergency so calmly.

Even Kendall’s family didn’t know she could do CPR.

“My nana, she taught me when I was little, just incase it happened tony papa,” said the fifth-grader.

According to the paramedics and fire department who responded to the 9-1-1 call, had Kendall not acted so quickly and performed CPR, her grandmother would not have survived.

“My brain just, like, said I had to do it.”

Start teaching your children CPR today.