Although it is rare for CPR to be administered in high schools and elementary schools, it does happen. In fact, it happens enough for the American Heart Association to make a push for a bill that would require those who worked at a school and eve those attending to be required to receive instruction on how to perform CPR.

The American Heart Association cited a few examples of when lives were saved and lost to illustrate their point. Madison McCarthy, for example, was only 5 years old when she fainted and went into cardiac arrest as school administrators comforted her instead of administering the CPR that might have saved her life. It’s tragic and preventable that no one at the school knew how to perform CPR.

However, they also cited the case of Katarina Weigel, who collapsed during volleyball practice and was saved because someone on staff administered CPR to her. It’s cases like these that demonstrate how important it is to be comfortable with such a simple skill.

In many cases, people have heard of CPR, but lack the confidence to administer it effectively. The American Heart Association believes that requiring high school graduates to learn CPR is a worthwhile endeavor for schools to take part in. Students wouldn’t necessarily become CPR certified, they would simply be instructed.

While 16 states have already passed bills mandating that high school graduates come out of high school, the American Heart Association hopes those numbers will increase in the next few years by getting schools and lawmakers behind them.

The bill has cleared the Assembly Education Committee, which is a first step for it to come up for a vote; however, the bill has yet to make it out of committee in the Senate.

Thanks to the work of the American Heart Association, this week has been named CPR Awareness Week? So, what’s the purpose of highlighting CPR this week? Plenty!

The American Heart Association is using this week to highlight the importance of knowing and learning CPR, but also teaching people how to use an automatic external defibrillator. According to Cindy Bourma of the AHA’s Midwestern Conference, the AHA is making an effort to educate people as to how easy CPR is to perform and just how important it can be for someone in cardiac distress.

“There have been some changes approved by the American Heart Association in the last year and a half,” Bouma said. “We’ve really gone to a new form of CPR for a lay person where we do hands only CPR. So, CPR has gotten less complex, and it’s taken away a little bit of the yuck factor that has turned some people off.”

In their effort to teach people about automatic external defibrillators (or AEDs), the AHA has started a “Selfies Save Lives” campaign encouraging members of the community to take a selfie in front of an AED and make an effort to learn something about how to operate one.

Kudos to the AHA for encouraging more people to become educated about CPR and how to use an AED. For more information on how to become CPR certified, call us or explore our website for more information!