The classes were taught by Butch & Susie Gibbs. Mormon Trail School Nurse Laura Funk also assisted at the MT classes.
On April 2, 2004, Butch suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at his Humeston residence. Because of the immediate start of CPR by Susie and the quick arrival of the Humeston First Responders with their AED, he did not become one of the 95% of SCA victims who do not survive. Since that time, the couple has become strong advocates for the learning of CPR and the placement of AEDs in public places where the lay public can easily access them to help save lives. They also raised money and obtained grants to place AEDs in all school buildings and law enforcement cars in Wayne County and have taught numerous CPR/AED classes in the area.
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the number one killer of Americans. An estimated 300,000 people die each year from SCA.
SCA can strike any one of any age at any time at any place. It usually strikes without warning and is often confused with a heart attack, but it is not a heart attack. Although a prior heart attack increases one’s risk for SCA, the two are quite different. In a sudden cardiac arrest, the heart stops and fails to pump blood to the body’s vital organs. Death follows within minutes. Immediate delivery of CPR more than doubles an SCA victim’s chance of survival by maintaining blood flow to the heart. For every minute from the onset of the SCA until the first shock from the AED, survival from a witnessed SCA decreases 7-10 per cent. CPR buys time until an AED arrives. In general, the arrival of Emergency Medical Services is longer than five minutes—especially in rural areas like Iowa. An AED—when used immediately after the onset of SCA—is highly effective in allowing the heart to resume a normal rhythm.
AEDs are simple to use and are made for non-medical persons to operate and there is an Iowa Good Samaritan law that protects anyone who uses an AED from liability.
"We would like to thank the students and staff at Mormon Trail, Seymour, and Wayne Community for the opportunity to teach them this life-saving skill," said Butch and Susie.
HUMESTON, IA - Beginning this school year, students in Iowa’s public and private schools must take a class in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as a requirement to graduate.
Members of the Class of 2012 at Wayne County’s three high schools, Mormon Trail, Seymour, and Wayne Community, have met that requirement. They took the American Heart Association (AHA) Heartsaver AED class which involves adult, child, and infant CPR, the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), and how to help a victim who is choking. The students practiced along with a video and at the end of the class had to show proficiency in CPR and the use of an AED. All successful students were then issued certification cards by the AHA. Several staff members at the schools were also certified earlier in the year during in-service days.