More than 117 Health Science A&P 10th and 11th grade students at St. Lucie West Centennial High School learned Hands-Only CPR this week. These students were taught by Mary Higgins’ First Responder and Dual Enrollment students.
First Responder classes are available to students who have completed the Allied Health Program as a senior elective. First Responder students prepare for careers in emergency medicine by becoming CPR certified as Health Care Professionals, completing web based classroom instruction and skills in advanced first aid techniques, followed by a shadowing opportunity at various St. Lucie County Fire Stations. They will also take a State Certification test at the end of the year. Dual Enrollment classes are also available which gives the students the opportunity to enroll in postsecondary courses and receive both high school and postsecondary credit.
This “student-teaching-students” approach is innovative and one of the first of its kind in the state of Florida. Students will walk away knowing how to recognize the need for CPR, how to call 911, and how to push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of the classic disco song “Stayin’ Alive.” The American Heart Association’s Hands-Only CPR at this beat can more than double or triple a person’s chances of survival. This method has been shown to be as effective as conventional CPR for sudden cardiac arrest at home, at work, or in public.
Each student received an American Heart Association personal use CPR Anytime kit to take home and keep so that they can train additional family and friends in Hands-Only CPR. The American Heart Association expects hundreds more will be trained to save a life by the 10th and 11th grade participants. This event is part of the American Heart Association’s Hands-Only CPR for Schools training program and is supported by an educational grant.
