ANNAPOLIS, MD--The Ways and Means Committee will hear HB1336, Breanna’s Law, at 1:00pm on Wednesday, March 12, 2014. The bill, which is co-sponsored by several bi-partisan delegates, would make CPR training a mandatory requirement to graduate from all Maryland high schools. This bill has already passed the full Senate as Senate Bill 503.
Breanna’s Law is named for a Perry Hall teenager who collapsed during a field hockey game at her school. She was saved when a bystander performed CPR on her. A similar law recently passed in Virginia where two years ago a 12-year-old girl died at her school because no one knew how to perform CPR.
Delegate Jon Cardin said, “CPR and AEDs save lives. Every year, thousands of people’s lives are saved by CPR or an AED. The more people we can have trained, the more lives we will save. Giving young people life saving training should be a no-brainer for the General Assembly.”
Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at anytime without warning and kills upwards of 300,000 people annually. Performing CPR and using a defibrillator can increase a victim’s chance of survival. The survival rate of cardiac arrest in Maryland is currently below 11 percent.
The Red Cross led trainings would instruct students on how to give CPR and also on how to use an automated external defibrillator. Additionally, students could include their training on resumes and job applications. Students would have the knowledge and training to save lives and the confidence to act in emergency situations.
Delegate Cardin concluded, “Rescue from sudden cardiac arrest is a second chance at life. With only a onetime 30 minute training, we can save lives. I’m excited to see all high school students get the chance to literally become life savers.”
SOURCE: TheBayNet.com