Monday Heart Month: School Districts Do Their Best to Educate Students on CPR

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Did you know Texas law requires all counties to train students in CPR before graduation? Over the past 10 years, he has helped save countless lives.

Few families or teachers may be aware of the law, which was passed by Texas legislators in 2013. School districts are required to teach all students the art of CPR at some point prior to graduation from high school.

The lessons should go beyond just a video in the classroom – they should be interactive and the training should include CPR with hands-on practice.

“The idea behind this is that we really wanted all students to not just watch videos of what our science shows. It’s very important to include a psychomotor component – which means it’s hands-on,” said Douglas Dunsavage, American Heart Association’s North Texas Community Advocacy Director. “So kids don’t just get videos in health class and they don’t think, ‘Oh, this is cardiopulmonary resuscitation.’ They actually do it. And they really do compress.”

American Heart Association worked to help this law pass in over 40 states across the country and over the years has helped schools build lessons from scratch. However, the pandemic has disrupted that momentum for some areas.

“Over the years we have seen some schools fail in terms of delivering this training. And then, of course, a global pandemic hit,” Dunsavage said. “We want to make sure that the implementation of these laws across the country is still being implemented, and do what we can to help support these schools“.

As classes were postponed by almost a few semesters during COVID-19, the state granted school districts a pandemic exemption to temporarily bypass the requirement, but this meant many students were unable to master the lifesaving skill.

Now school districts are trying to get back on track and get back to teaching CPR in person.

First aid and AED training is not required by law, and training does not have to lead to certification, but some school districts like to ISD Fort Worth are taking it one step further by actually certifying their students in CPR before they graduate.

They do this with the help of a dedicated and certified fire department instructor and retiree who forces each of the district’s approximately 73,000 students to complete CPR certification before they graduate.

“It is not required for the state that the child be actually certified. They need to be trained, but we want our students to actually be certified in CPR,” said Dr. Angelica Ramsey, Superintendent of FWISD. “And because he is a former member of the fire department and he is a certified instructor. It makes a huge difference to us, our students and what they get.”

FWISD is one of the few counties in North Texas that has dedicated a staff member to this task.

The AHA also worked with the district last school year to allocate funds in their budget first for CPR training to make up for lost time.

“Now we have issues like every other high school and every school district in the country where we are catching up a bit for our students who may not have been in school during the COVID years,” Ramsey said. “But the goal is that after we get through this little hiccup, every student gets a certificate.”

These are thousands of qualified rescuers who go out to help society year after year.

“They have learned life-saving skills that they can use in their lives after high school. And I think it’s good for the whole city of Fort Worth,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey said CPR legislation is enforced by the Texas Education Agency, which requires school districts to submit annual reports to track the number of students learning CPR.

She said that failure to comply with this requirement could result in a TEA request for corrective action, and funding could even be affected if counties do not comply.

Looking at the numbers, according to the AHA, CPR training typically costs about $5 per graduate. The association has been able to help school districts in North Texas comply with this legislation in a variety of ways, especially in rural areas that typically do not have the funding or resources that large cities do.

The AHA is also helping districts that have lost teachers and staff due to labor shortages provide lessons and advice on CPR in the wake of the pandemic.

“We’re really trying to work with school districts to see what’s going on and see if there are any students who aren’t doing well with this learning,” Dunsavage said. “And see how we can help support them.” well, in terms of including these appropriations in their budget.”

Other areas also go far beyond the minimum requirements.

IN Carrollton Farmers ISD Brancheven 5th graders only get hands-on experience with CPR.

Some schools go to great lengths to meet Texas CPR requirements before students graduate.

NBC 5 caught up with Kent Elementary School fifth graders who were learning about compression, best practices, and even how to use a Carrollton Firefighters AED.

The district is partnering with local fire departments to provide classes. District leaders have also invested in equipment that includes AED simulators and about 400 portable manikins that can be taken to any school. The fire department can use the equipment for their own educational purposes, so it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Initially, CFBISD targeted 8th and 12th grade students, but only last year added 5th grade students. Now they cover about 5,000 children a year.

“Our ultimate goal is to teach them the early warning signs and what to do, to make them more comfortable with CPR and AED,” said Jonathan Wilk, CFBISD Health, Fitness and Sports Specialist.

The efforts of these school districts are helping to increase the number of witnesses in Texas by giving children confidence in their actions in any given situation.

“The more trained witnesses we have, the more likely they are to take action if someone falls in front of them,” Dunsavage said.

To take it one step further, the American Heart Association helped the county get Grant funded CPR kits for students to take home. Kids include an inflatable manikin to practice compressions at home and other resources so families can learn together.

The AHA is also asking families to accept cardiopulmonary resuscitation callwhose goal is to ensure that every family in America has at least one person in the house who knows cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The facts explaining why this is so important are eye-opening and important:

• Only about 46% of people suffering from cardiac arrest receive CPR from a bystander.
• CPR, especially if given immediately, can double or triple the chance of survival for a victim of cardiac arrest.
• About 70% – or almost 3 out of 4 – of cardiac arrests that occur outside the hospital occur at home.
• Blacks and Hispanics are less likely to receive bystander CPR.
• Women are less likely to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation, in part because people fear being accused of inappropriate touching, sexual harassment, or harming a person.
• Six out of 10 women who experience cardiac arrest in public die because people walking by were afraid or unwilling to perform CPR.
• Manual CPR is a method recommended by the American Heart Association to increase the likelihood that people will perform CPR in an emergency.
• The two steps of Hands Only CPR are to call 911 and press firmly and quickly on the center of the chest. Use a familiar song to keep the tempo at 100-120 bpm.
• If you are called in for CPR, you are more likely to save the life of someone you love.

For more information and resources for your family or school, click here.