New York moved closer this week to teaching students cardiopulmonary resuscitation in school when the Board of Regents took only 10 minutes to approve a report about adding the lifesaving skill to the curriculum.
The report was created by the New York Department of Education and it said that while curriculum matters should be overseen by local school districts, CPR instruction is an exception because lives are at stake.
“Who wouldn’t support this?” asked Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents on Monday. “Why would it be controversial?”
Adding CPR in Schools to the curriculum in New York is a multi-step process. The state passed legislation last year recommending be taught and it was signed into law in October. Now, the legislation must wind its way through the halls and approval processes of the state’s Department of Education and Board of Regents.
There are so many perspectives from which to tell this story, I'm not sure whose to use first.
Jim Dirkson's perhaps. He's the 56-year-old Oswego scientist and assistant coach of a traveling baseball team who happened to be pitching to his son the evening of Jan. 11 when he suddenly collapsed.
Or I could start with 16-year-old Oswego High School junior Ariana Castillo, who was working out with her traveling softball team the same time Dirkson went into cardiac arrest at the Oswego sports complex.
Then again, I could take the story back to Edward Hospital nurse Amanda Hunt, who is passionate about CPR training for high school students – indeed, the public in general .
MYERSTOWN, PA--Students of Elco's emergency medical technician program got a lesson they won't soon forget when they were involved in a real-life medical emergency recently at the high school.
An elderly gentleman visiting the school for a musical program suffered cardiac arrest and was found unresponsive; without a pulse.
A number of students as well as the EMT instructor responded to the emergency and initiated CPR, with astounding results — a regained pulse; a restarted heart in a person clinically deceased.
About a dozen students responded to the emergency; a few brought equipment to the scene. Some waited to show the ambulance personnel where to go, and at least four performed chest compressions on the man.
NEW YORK, NY--To toughen safety standards in youth sports, medical experts are turning away from lawmakers and toward high school sports associations to implement policies and procedures to prevent deaths and serious injuries.
The National Athletic Trainers' Association and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine completed two days of meetings and programs with representatives from all 50 state high school athletic associations Friday at the NFL offices in Manhattan. The goal was to have decision-makers return to their states and push high schools to put into place recommendations on how best to handle potentially catastrophic medical conditions such as heat stroke, sudden cardiac arrest, and head and neck injuries.
CHARLESTON, WV--West Virginia middle school and high school students will be required to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation under new state legislation expected to be signed into law. WV HB 3017 was sent to the Education Committee yesterday.
Starting in the fall semester of 2015, students in grades six through 12 will practice giving chest compressions every year in health class. Previously, the West Virginia Department of Education required instruction in CPR and first aid without the hands-on, psychomotor practice.
When the NCAA hired a neurologist two years ago to improve protocols for handling concussions, nobody foresaw that he would make a priority out of sudden cardiac death. But as the first chief medical officer in the history of the NCAA—an organization founded to promote athlete health— Brian Hainline has no intention of limiting his influence to neurology.
“Concussions have overshadowed everything,” says Hainline, a New York University neurologist. “Why aren’t we talking about death?”
SEATTLE, WA--Top sports-cardiology and -medicine physicians are meeting this weekend in Seattle to discuss efforts to improve cardiac safety in athletes.
The conference is driven by the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Center.
Speakers hope to reach consensus on recommended scientific standards for interpreting electrocardiograms (ECG), the diagnostic test most often used to assess the electrical and muscular functions of the heart.
TRENTON, NJ--On January 30, 2015, David Csillan, Head Athletic Trainer with Ewing High School and Tammy Osterhout, Assistant Athletic Trainer with Rancocas Valley High School were taking in their respective team’s game at the Jeff Coney Classic Tournament. David decided to travel to the game that night, which is not something he ordinarily does. Tammy was working the game as the host site Athletic Trainer. Following the game, Ewing High School Athletic Director Bud Kowal ran into the Blue Devils’ locker room. He told Csillan that he was needed in the stands.
Twenty other states, one California district have made training mandatory
SACRAMENTO, CA--A Democratic assemblyman has introduced a bill into the California Legislature that would require students to learn how to perform CPR before they graduate high school.
Assembly Bill 319 was introduced Friday by Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez, D-Pomona, who said the bill would empower young people to save lives.