Dallas, Texas (NAPSI) - Nearly 360,000 people experience cardiac arrest out- side of a hospital each year and most of those victims die, often because bystanders don’t know how to start CPR or are afraid they’ll do something wrong.
The American Heart Association believes kids are the answer to saving more lives.
How That Works
The nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke, the American Heart Association, is helping prepare more students, their teachers and their families to save lives with the CPR in Schools Training Kit™. The hands-on, interactive kit is based on the latest science and makes it easy for educators to train the next generation of lifesavers in 30 minutes or less.
Students practice CPR with their own inflatable manikin while watching and learning from a DVD such lifesaving techniques as hands-only CPR, giving breaths, choking relief and how to use an automated external defibrillator. The portable kit can be reused to train a whole class, grade or school. Each kit comes with 10 manikins and instructional DVDs so kids can take training home and help pass these lifesaving skills on to their family and community.
Doctor’s Opinion
“Four out of every five out-of- hospital cardiac arrests occur in private or residential settings, so we have to find ways to emphasize the importance of knowing CPR to save the lives of family members and loved ones,” said Robert W. Neumar, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the University of Michigan Medical School’s Department of Emergency Medicine. “The kits enable educators to teach students lifesaving CPR and empower schools to serve the families in their communities,” added Neumar, who serves as Chair of the American Heart Association’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee.
Learn More
Lawmakers in 12 states are requiring all students to be trained in psychomotor skill-based CPR before graduating from high school. Seven states have laws in place or that go into effect this school year, and five more have passed laws that will be implemented in the future. To learn more about CPR in Schools legislation, go to http://beCPRsmart.org.
For further facts about CPR in Schools, go to http://beCPRsmart.org, heart.org/cpr and www.heart.org/CPRinSchools or call (877) AHA-4CPR or (800) AHA-USA1.