‘Live Smart’ event at NKHS to honor those who saved student’s life, educate students in ‘Hands-Only CPR’

New Kent Educational Foundation is teaming with New Kent Schools, New Kent Fire & Rescue, New Kent Sheriff’s Office and the Central Virginia CPR Council to create the “Live Smart” event this Thursday (April 24), 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at New Kent High School.

The event follows two tragic incidents of students suffering cardiac arrest at the school during the current school year. The event will honor the responders and lifesaving bystanders involved in the second incident, in which the student, who has now returned to school, was saved because responders performed CPR.

The event is the inaugural CPR training for New Kent students in advance of the implementation of Gwyneth’s Law, which requires all students learn the lifesaving technique of Hands-Only CPR beginning with the freshmen class of 2016-17.

The goal of the event is to train students in Hands-Only CPR, using the American Heart Association’s new “CPR in Schools Training Kits” which were generously provided by the New Kent Educational Foundation. The training kits will equip and empower New Kent High School to continue CPR education into the future.

All high school students will view a 15-minute video on CPR instruction on April 22 followed by hands-on instruction for nearly all students during the event on April 24.

In addition to the Hands-Only CPR instruction, the event will offer students opportunities to participate in the DriveSmart program, where they will be able to experience a drunk-driving simulator, as well as training from the Youth Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention Project, or YADAP.

VCU LifeEvac will be landing during the event, and New Kent Fire and Rescue will have equipment on hand for students to view.

“The more people who are trained in CPR, the more lifesavers we have in communities who can act as first responders when citizens go into cardiac arrest,” said Elisa Wills, executive director for the American Heart Association in Hampton Roads, in a press release. “Getting people at a grassroots level to not only learn Hands-Only CPR, but to share it with others, is one way the American Heart Association is working to ensure all Americans know the simple steps to save a life.”

Nearly 425,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States, and 89 percent of Americans die because they don’t receive immediate CPR from someone on the scene. Hands-Only CPR is a quick, easy way to save more lives.

If you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse, (1) Call 9-1-1; and (2) Push hard and fast in the center of the chest. Doing these compressions at the proper beat can more than double a person’s chances of survival; coincidentally, the proper beat matches the classic Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive.”

For more information or to learn more about Hands-Only CPR, visit www.heart.org/handsonlycpr.