By Faith Abraham
Over the past few weeks, Health Science students at IHS have been developing their CPR skills through a rigorous basic life support course supplied by the American Heart Association. Students were paired, learned the basics through video explanations, and practiced on mannequins under the careful watch of an instructor. The goal for these students is to get their CPR certification by the end of the course, a two part process that includes a written test and a skills assessment.
“The written exam tests your judgement by giving you crazy, real-life scenarios,” junior Sophia Schmich, who is currently in Health Science, said. “[The skills assessment] was especially stressful to me because it was structured like a high-pressure situation, but it prepared me since that’s basically real life.”
Health science students learned the basics of using an AED and Ambu bag and the types of situations that would require them. For example, a pre-hospital setting would not have an Ambu bag readily available, so the situation would not call for it. Additionally, students learned how to do effective compressions using proper hand placement and allowing full recoil of the chest. Compressions and compression rates also change based on how many rescuers are present at the scene and whether the unresponsive patient is an infant, child, or adult.
“CPR itself is pretty easy,” said Carmen Guerra, another health science student. “You just have to learn the steps and have a lot of stamina for compressions.”
By learning CPR, students can become trained bystanders in the event of an unexpected cardiac arrest, the leading cause of death as listed by the CDC. According to the American Heart Association, CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. This is especially significant considering that the survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests is only around 10%. By learning CPR and training with this course, IHS students can be equipped to save the life of their own close friend or loved one at home or school and feel confident they would know what to do in a situation calling for high-quality CPR.
“You never know when you are going to need CPR,” said Schmich, “but if you can do CPR, you know you are able to save someone’s life if something goes wrong.”
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