A cardiac or respiratory emergency can occur anywhere and at any time. Unfortunately, 70 percent of Americans admit they would probably feel helpless during an emergency due to insufficient or inexperience administering CPR. Sadly, less than 8 percent of people who experience a cardiac emergency while outside a hospital won’t survive. Of those who do survive, 32 percent of victims receive CPR from a bystander.
With these alarming facts, Cardinal O’Hara High School in Delco has now added the lifesaving training to the skills students can obtain at the school. In addition, other high schools are expected to follow suit as New Jersey and Delaware will require high school students to take CPR training soon.
The high school began offering the training after many students had already been in a situation that required CPR. Among these students was 15 year-old student Killeen McCans, who had faced an emergency situation and became CPR certified. After careful planning, the help of her paramedic father, high school principle Kelly Lanza, and a phone call to Einstein CPR Training Center, 200 students gathered to gain hands-on CPR training.
With the help of more than 275 volunteers from Einstein, Harvard Paramedics, Main Line Health System, University of Pennsylvania Hospital, and Crozer Keystone Health System, students received the basics of CPR training with the use of mannequins and automated external defibrillators.
Although the classes were helpful, the 25-minute courses aren’t enough to achieve a CPR certification, but the students now have the foundation to CPR to react in the event of an emergency.
Through the help of the volunteers and the funds needed for the training donated by Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia. Students are now equipped with the sufficient skills needed to potentially save someone’s life, which doubles the chance of survival.
Sources:
“CPR Statistics” American Heart Association
