Missouri may be the next state to require high school students to undergo CPR training as a graduation requirement. New legislation is pushing a “hands only” training course. Students will be able to complete the program in 30 minutes or less and it will consist of an instructional DVD and manikin which allows them to watch and practice the techniques simultaneously.
Columbia Public Schools health Coordinator, Christi Hopper said, “We basically teach the hands only CPR for adults. Mostly because it’s more likely that a person will help if they don’t feel like they have to put their mouth in contact with somebody else’s mouth and just doing compressions can help.”
The American Heart Association supports this new legislation as well. Representative, Jace Smith, explains the statistics and why this program has potential to be so effective.
“We found that if someone collapses of sudden cardiac arrest or in that case, if bystander CPR isn’t performed before ambulance and EMS arrives they literally have only about an 8 percent chance of survival,” said Smith.
The AHA said they are prepared to donate 100,000 dollars to help fund this new program. The American Red Cross has also publicized their support for these new academic measures.
