High School students will soon be trained and certified in CPR

Left to right, DHS girls basketball coach Bill Shaw, DHS volleyball coach Barb Kelley, and DHS wrestling coach Bill Ross listen to their instructor as they learn to become CPR teachers as part of the American Heart Association’s Heartsaver CPR in Schools program. CPR will be taught to students in PE concepts class at Derby High School beginning next semester. Each year, this program will help train about 500 students who will be out in the community and will know CPR.

By Monica Woolard

This year, Sedgwick County EMS is conducting a new program called “CPR for Schools.” Derby High School ninth graders will soon become certified under the American Heart Association’s “HeartSaver CPR” program in their PE concepts class.

Derby joins three other Kansas school districts and Wichita Collegiate High School in participating in this new program. The American Heart Association chose Derby for this program due to the district’s outstanding participation in Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart. Since 1993, Derby school students have raised over $130,000 to support American Heart Assocation research and educational programs, including CPR instruction.

“We are training PE teachers and staff at the high school to teach CPR in PE concepts,” says Pat Kanaga, DHS nurse. “Every student takes PE concepts, so all will learn CPR. Students will be certified for two years if they complete the class, pass the test, and demonstrate the skills.” Kanaga says they are hoping to begin the program next semester. “We will train about 500 students (each year) who will be out in the community and will know CPR.”

CPR, performed properly, can increase a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival by 50 percent. Each year, 250,000 Americans die of cardiac arrest, most of them away from a hospital.

For the full story, please see the December 25, 2002 issue of
The Derby Weekly Informer.