NEWS

Bill would require students to learn CPR

Syeda Ferguson
Times Herald
Athletic Director Kelly Loria shows an AED device located in a first floor hallway of the main building Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 at Cardinal Mooney High School in Marine City. Senate Bill 647 would require that public and private middle and high schools provide instruction and certification in CPR and the use of an AED device.

Michigan lawmakers want to add CPR training to high school graduation requirements.

Senate Bill 647 of 2015 would require CPR instruction for all students in grades 7 to 12 beginning in the 2016-17 school year. According to the bill, students would need to successfully complete the instruction before being issued a high school diploma.

If the bill is approved, the training would involve instruction on what to do if someone is having a heart attack, said Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, R-Lawton, one of the bill’s sponsors. Students physically unable to perform CPR would be exempt.

Teachers and coaches are trained to perform CPR, but few schools offer training for students.

Mike Hulewicz, 18, goes for a shot as Mike Proia, 17, left, attempts to block while playing basketball during a physical education class Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 at Cardinal Mooney High School in Marine City. Senate Bill 647 would require that public and private middle and high schools provide instruction and certification in CPR and the use of an AED device.

Nancy Thomson, Memphis co-superintendent, said the district used to offer CPR training for students as part of its high school health class. Richmond-Lenox EMS delivered the training until the 2014-15 school year. It was discontinued because of an increase in curriculum content requirements in health education.

Landmark Academy in Kimball Township offers a CPR and First Aid course as an elective for high school students. The CPR course includes training on using an automated external defibrillator.

Students play basketball during a physical education class Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 at Cardinal Mooney High School in Marine City. Senate Bill 647 would require that public and private middle and high schools provide instruction and certification in CPR and the use of an AED device.

The course is taught by a certified instructor and allows students to receive their CPR and First Aid certifications, said Debby Wilton, superintendent and middle school-high school administrator at Landmark.

Landmark’s elementary building will be receiving an AED machine Jan. 22 through the Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation.

“We are so grateful for this foundation’s gift and training for the staff in the elementary building,” Wilton said.

Brown City Schools Superintendent Doug Muxlow said their district currently doesn’t offer CPR classes for students but that could change if the bill finds passage.

“We do have AED machines in our buildings and a portable one that is available at our football-track facility and our baseball-softball facility.  The AED machines are structured so that they can walk someone through a crisis situation and will not work if they are used incorrectly,” Muxlow said in an email.

“We will wait and see how SB 0647 proceeds. It is often a long journey from simply being in committee to becoming law.”

Sandusky Community Schools Superintendent Michael Carmean said Sandusky does not provide CPR training for students, but that there are AED machines in every building and Sandusky staff was re-certified in CPR August.

Schuitmaker said the impetus behind the bill was in part a resolution she sponsored with other women in the Senate recognizing heart disease as the No. 1 killer of women. She said in her own district the 2011 death of Fennville High School student athlete Wes Leonard from sudden cardiac arrest while on the basketball court inspired her to do more.

Kevin Krajewski, 18, goes for a shot while playing basketball during a physical education class Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 at Cardinal Mooney High School in Marine City. Senate Bill 647 would require that public and private middle and high schools provide instruction and certification in CPR and the use of an AED device.

“Had there been a defibrillator, he would have lived, probably. So seconds make all the difference,” Schuitmaker said.

She said 27 other states already have similar graduation requirements in place.

“I don’t see this as overly burdensome. They can fold it into the current curriculum of health or physical education. Thirty minutes in five years is not a whole lot but it can mean the difference between life and death, not only for students and school employees, but it’s a life-long skill as well.”

Contact Syeda Ferguson at (810) 989-6276 or email her at syeda@thetimesherald.com. Follow her on Twitter@shossainfe.