Margaret Bell Miller Middle School students learn Hands-Only CPR
Natasha Heinz/For the Observer-Reporter
Margaret Bell Miller Middle School students learn Hands-Only CPR November 14 during an event organized by EQT Foundation and the American Heart Association.
Natasha Heinz/For the Observer-Reporter
Seventh-grade students at Margaret Bell Miller Middle School in Waynesburg listen to Rachel Betta, of the American Heart Association, November 14 about the importance of learning Hands-Only CPR.
A seventh-grader can save a life, or many, and the American Heart Association and EQT Foundation are making sure young people in Greene County have the right resources to do so.
On Nov. 14, the organizations offered Hands-Only CPR training at Margaret Bell Miller Middle School in Waynesburg.
The Have A Heart…Save a Life program has existed for more than a decade as a way to teach students what to do if someone passes out from a cardiac episode in public. By informing the students, the program hopes to reach the whole community.
“It really helps build their confidence,” said EQT Foundation manager Ellen Rossi. “If we can teach these kids and then they go home and they teach their siblings, their parents, their aunts and uncles, then it really just helps to get a little bit more information out to people throughout the community.”
During the event, four student volunteers went to the stage to learn how to do Hands-Only CPR on dummies provided by EQT. An American Heart Association instructor explained the steps, including where to place their hands (in the center of the chest) and how fast to push (100 to 120 beats per minute, the same rate as the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” and Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love.”).
The dummies have a space indicating where the hands go and a clicker that goes off when enough pressure is applied, making it easier for learners to understand what they are doing and if they are doing it right.
The students will have an opportunity to train with dummies again, during health class, which will put them on track to a new graduation requirement.
Gov. Wolf signed a bill in June that enables schools to provide Hands-Only CPR training as a high school graduation requirement.
AHA Foundation Relations Director Rachel Beta explained that only 10% of people who have cardiac arrest survive if they don’t get CPR. With CPR, the number can double or triple. However, in areas where community members and kids get training, rates of survival have gone up to 30 to 40%, she said.
According to numbers from the coroner’s office, heart-related issues are the most common natural cause of death in Greene County. County coroner Gene Rush said cardiac arrest accounted for 43 deaths in 2018.
The organizations have been doing training for over a decade, and middle-schoolers are the target for one simple reason: They talk to their family, unlike high school students. At that age, Betta said, they are more likely to tell parents what they learned in school and show them how to do chest compressions.
Betta noted that each participant receives their own dummy, which comes with directions to use and even a training DVD.
“Having the dummies go out of the school helps keep the community safe,” she said.