OPINION: Davis High should offer more CPR training and certification to students

INFOGRAPHIC (Courtesy / Mattias Rowenbale)

By Grace Kishiyama,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Last year, I realized the importance of my own Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certification and training after I came close to having to use CPR on my dad. 

After my dad went into sudden cardiac arrest in my kitchen, I grew to have a greater appreciation for the CPR training and certification I had received when I became lifeguard certified. 

I likely would have never taken it upon myself to become CPR certified if I hadn’t decided to be a lifeguard for my synchronized swimming team as it was too much of a hassle for a lazy teenager like me to go out of my way to find an in-person CPR certification course near me.

While there are online CPR certification classes for an affordable price of $35 offered by the Red Cross, I feel that the online classes may not be as effective as in-person training where students can gain hands-on experience on mannequins and can feel more engaged with in-person CPR training. 

Though it is rare that a high school kid like myself will have to use CPR on another individual, it is still always a possibility.

Being CPR certified is a critical skill that should be widely available to all as it could help save the lives of others.

Davis High should offer free CPR training and certification to all students. Though students are taught how to perform CPR to an extent in ninth grade, some students do not retain what they have learned even just a few years later. 

Though there are school clubs such as the DHS Red Cross Club that offer training, tips and techniques, CPR certification is not included.

Offering training and certification can equip students with vital skills that could potentially be lifesaving. 

The president of the DHS Red Cross Club, Melissa Lee, believes that the school should offer CPR certification to students.

“CPR training is a really important life-saving skill to have. It can help students save loved ones or even strangers who suffer sudden cardiac arrest,” Lee said. 

While the DHS Red Cross Club hopes to not only equip its members with CPR training, it also serves as something greater. 

“We have a lot of people in our club who are interested in going into the medical field, specifically emergency medicine, and for many of them, learning how to do CPR really solidified their interest in that field,” Lee said.

In addition to providing a vital skill, CPR training can help introduce and establish student interest in emergency medicine. 

In 2016, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1719 which requires CPR to be taught in schools. However, it does not require schools to certify their students in CPR. 

Offering students the opportunity to become CPR certified would be beneficial to the individual students themselves but would also be beneficial to the greater community as a whole. 

According to the American Heart Association, “only about 46% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest get the immediate help that they need before professional help arrives.”

Offering training and certification to students could potentially help increase the percentage of help people who experience sudden cardiac arrest receive from bystanders.

Lee says that offering CPR training and certification to students allows students to “save lives in any environment, (can) build awareness for cardiac illness screenings and (can help) reduce risky behavior since students learn about the causes of sudden cardiac arrest and how to avoid it.”

DHS should offer CPR training and certification to students or at least offer training to current juniors and seniors as a refresher for the training they received freshman year. By doing so, students can be better equipped to save the life of an individual experiencing sudden cardiac arrest until more advanced medical personnel arrives on the scene.