The mandatory senior meeting in March consisted of more than upcoming dates for senior events. There were CPR demonstrations and mandatory training for all seniors who attended the meeting.
“It went really well,” nurse Mary Fischer said. “I was impressed, not all the other schools have completed it. Only 19 kids did not show up, I thought that was really good.”
A law in Texas, which went into effect in 2014-15, mandates that CPR training is a graduation requirement. The training consists of hands-only CPR and AED instruction. While this training has to be done at any point between seventh to 12th grade, Humble ISD has chosen for the training to be completed in the 12th grade.
“It’s important that if you see something you do something,” Fischer said, “It doesn’t matter if you’re at home or at the movies with a friend, it’s just important. The more people that are trained the less likely that you would be nervous or afraid to help out.”
The CPR training was given during the senior meeting. The automated external defibrillator (AED) training will be covered during the first week of April in senior English classes. The AED is used to jumpstart the heart in case of sudden cardiac arrest.
CPR training was supervised by Fischer as well as the athletic trainers and senior HOSA students. HOSA students who helped run the training were all seniors in clinicals. They are each CPR certified and have their Basic Life Support certification.
“It’s nice that we did get to help them learn the basics, because anything really does help,” HOSA blood drive chair Bryson Bailey said. “I think it’s important that everybody knows how to because you don’t just have to have a heart condition to go into cardiac arrest, anybody can.”
Students who missed the senior meeting will be able to take the training sometime during flex in April.
“I’m really glad they made this a requirement because people should know what the first thing is to do when they see someone lying unconscious,” senior Victoria Anisi said. “You should be able to act quickly. I do believe it’s something that we need to do because it can literally save lives.”
