There is a broad consensus among Texans, across all party lines, that there is a need for high school students to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Today, the Texas Education Committee meets in Austin to discuss numerous bills, including the American Heart Association’s CPR in School Bill, sponsored by Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, a physician for more than 30 years, and Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, who in 2007 received the Patient Advocacy Award from the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.
HB 897/SB 261 in the state Legislature would require Texas schools to provide 30 minutes of CPR instruction to all students at some point in their secondary education curriculum before graduation, according to Tiffany Travis, senior director of Communication for the American Heart Association.
Some of the arguments given in favor by the AHA are:
- Many of those who suffer cardiac arrest don’t receive timely CPR; and only 11 percent of the 383,000 people who suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital every year survive.
- Schools present an opportunity to teach young people how to respond to cardiac arrest and begin to introduce such efforts as part of normal bystander response.
- Schools are intended to prepare students to contribute to their communities and learning CPR is an essential contribution.
This bill will put CPR training into school curriculum, Travis said, so everyone will know basic CPR before graduating, allow for school districts to offer the training in PE, Health and Science classes and will allow Texas to join at least six other states with similar laws (Alabama, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont), according to the American Heart Association.