PACIFIC BEACH – Pacific Beach Middle School is ready.
The school was recently awarded $1,500 worth of equipment to augment the CPR component in its healthcare literacy class.
“This grant provides PBMS with two complete CPR in Schools Kits for the hands-on training of students using mannequins and an Automatic External Defibrillator Trainer mock-up devices,” said instructor Paul Chen during a recent demonstration of the new instructional materials and equipment.
Last summer, Chen made a presentation to the American Heart Association’s local board of directors requesting funding for a CPR in Schools training kit to augment the health curriculum at PBMS. The request was approved.
“We received two complete training kits as well as 20 inflatable mannequins with audible feedback, 20 AED trainer mock-ups, six sets of digital course material, the pumps to inflate the mannequins, as well as storage bags and cleaning supplies for the mannequins,” Chen said.
CPR is part of a semester-long career wheel taught by three separate instructors over eighteen weeks to offer students information about careers in various industries such as health care, finance, design, engineering, and media. Chen teaches the healthcare literacy component of the wheel.
“Every three weeks, I have two classes of different students rotate through my section where students receive cross-curricular instruction between biology, career options in the healthcare industry, and hands-on CPR and first aid instruction,” Chen said. “Within one semester, a total of six classes of students will go through my section of the wheel.”
That is approximately 200 students a year receiving this CPR training, he added.
During the two-week CPR module, students learn basic heart anatomy, the pathway of the blood, andthe electric conduction pathways. Students learn what CPR and an automated external fibrillator can do. The course culminates in hands-on practice of CPR and the use of the AED.
The hands-on CPR involves several steps for students to understand: assess the scene and approach a patient safely; assess patient for responsiveness and requesting emergency medical response; assess patient for need of CPR (compression only versus compression with rescue breathing); initiate CPR (using proper techniques, intensity, and rate of compression); use AED in conjunction with CPR as soon as AED is available.
Every student is required to complete one continuous minute of CPR while delivering effective compressions and to correctly deploy the AED device in a demonstration.
Students who successfully demonstrate CPR and use of the AED will receive a certificate of participation along with a face shield at the end of the module.
