Students Get Two Minutes to Save Lives

Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive… Feel the city breakin’ and everybody shaking, and we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive… As students filed into the McIntosh Gym at Colton High School (CHS) on May 20, the strains of the 1977 Bee Gees mega hit filled the room. It was an appropriate prelude for the task at hand as American Medical Response (AMR) of San Bernardino County presented two minutes of education for saving lives. This was the third year the AMR team had come to the high school to instruct the students as part of a nationwide initiative to educate as many people as possible in the skill of Compression Only CPR on that day. According to Jeremy Shumaker, inter-facility transportation manager of AMR, Sudden Cardiac Arrest is more common than most people realize. Nearly 300,000 occur annually in the United States, and 80 percent of those cardiac arrests occur in the home. Since 70 percent of Americans say they feel helpless during a cardiac arrest because they don’t know what to do, teaching community members Hands-Only CPR will help more victims to have bystander performed CPR and therefore, a higher rate of survival. Victor Schiro, assistant principal at Colton High, said that over the last three years, about 80 percent of the students had received the Compression training, which works in conjunction with the Health Education Academy of Learning (HEAL) at the high school. “The students learn two bits of important information to help deal with cardiac arrest emergency situations,” said Schiro, “and that’s 1) Call 911 and 2) Put your hands together and start compressions.” Schiro explained that the Compressions classes were part of the high school overall agenda to provide all of the students with life-long learning opportunities. “The Stayin’ Alive song runs at 100 beats a minute, which is the perfect rate for the timing of the compressions needed to keep someone alive. By playing the song here at the training, and over the intercom during breaks and lunches, we’re hoping to reinforce the importance of these trainings; we want our kids to realize they’re spending two minutes learning to save lives,” said Schiro. Gerry Gardner, operations supervisor at AMR said, “This is really a wonderful thing for students to learn. Besides the fact that if they ever have to use the training, the odds are that it will be for a loved one. This could also spark an interest in some of the students to get training in the medical professions.” Gardner shared that the high school was chosen for the Compressions class because the large number of individuals who could be trained at the same time would mean a larger number of individuals potentially saved because of the shared knowledge. Colton Fire Department provided a presence at the training, too. As Colton Fire Captain Jerry Devine watched over the proceedings he remarked, “This is great opportunity for these kids to learn these life saving skills. We’re glad to be a part of it all.” Students from the EMT Program at Crafton Hills College (CHC) were also on site to help the high school students learn to do the Compressions technique correctly, and AMR Operations Manager and CHC part time faculty and primary instructor for their EMT Program Dave Molloy lead the CHS students through the short two minute presentation. “We trained 1,200 students at Colton High School that day, and 274 students at Colton Middle School,” said Molloy. The total of students trained in San Bernardino County was 4743, which included students from Colton High School, Colton Middle School, Pacific High School in San Bernardino, Don Lugo High School in Chino, Rancho Cucamonga High School and Mesa Linda Middle School in Victorville. “We’re looking forward to coming back next year, and encourage anyone who would like to provide training for their facility and staff members to contact us,” said Molloy. Anyone interested in scheduling AMR to provide Compression only CPR training should contact Shalon Watkins, special events coordinator for AMR, at 909-477-5026.