What Health Courses in High School Lack

Only one in six Americans are aware that adult bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is best performed with only chest compressions and no breathing. Even fewer, 11%, are aware that these compressions should be performed at a rate of 100 to 120 beats per minute (Kyle). Although this is a major issue, what can we do about it or even who can we educate about it? Our high schools are not being taught CPR. Students get no instruction on how to respond in case of a medical emergency. Since few people in America are familiar with CPR, it’s time for our high schools to include it in their health curricula so that kids may learn more about the human body and how to react in an emergency situation.

Learning more about the human body and how to maintain its health is the main goal of a high school health course. So why not provide CPR instruction? The heart, your airway, and how cardiac arrest might influence your brain would all be topics that students would study so much more about. They would discover the causes of cardiac arrest and how an AED operates. Students would be exposed to more medical concepts, procedures, and circumstances that will help them later in life. Although teachers could gripe that this would just mean extra work for them and the children, it wouldn’t be all that difficult. There are several videos and websites that would make lesson preparation simpler, and they would just need to go over the fundamentals of CPR (firstaidforfree.com). Although some states have established legislation to make CPR a requirement in schools, individuals still find methods to circumvent it. For instance, in Illinois, students are not obliged to finish a CPR course, and in Indiana, waivers may be made to exclude them from the obligation. In Maryland, completing a CPR course is not a requirement for high school graduation. If students were taught and understood what to do in an emergency, they might assist others at school. “Bystanders trained in CPR are more likely to take action than those who are not prepared” (Zarrilli). The staff is now the only group in schools that receives CPR instruction. What transpires should a teacher have cardiac arrest? Of course, others might counter that students don’t need to learn CPR. Even if a teacher needs CPR, there will always be another staff member present to assist. However, rushing down the corridor to locate the closest instructor takes valuable time, and what if the teacher is hidden away and isn’t discovered straight away? The individual who needs assistance gets medical care right away. According to studies, people who get treatment quickly—within two minutes or less—and start CPR straight away have fewer negative side effects than those who wait longer (Pennington). By the time another staff member came, the injured teacher could already have brain damage. Elite Scholars Academy in Clayton County, Atlanta, Georgia, is one instance when CPR was required in a school setting. The incident involved George. Imani Bell passed out while exercising up stadium stairs on one of Atlanta’s warmest days in the previous three years. Firefighters discovered an unresponsive Bell inside after receiving the distress call. The patient stopped breathing and lost feeling in his pulse while being transported to the hospital. Firefighters brought her to Southern Regional Medical Center after doing CPR and starting advanced cardiac life support. Although she lost her pulse along the journey, the patient was moved to Southern Regional Medical Center, where she was later declared dead (Poole). Bell’s life may have been spared if even one of the students present at the collision learned CPR.

Students who have received CPR training will be able to assist persons outside of their school as well. 90% of Americans, according to the US Census Bureau in 2018 (“High School Completion Rate Is Highest in U.S. History”), attend high school. That would imply that 90% of Americans would get proper CPR training. Just consider the impact this would have on our nation. More lives would be saved, more people would watch out for one another, and more people would be trained to provide CPR in an emergency. Some may argue that the majority of common people who take CPR training never utilize it. Why should people spend time studying a talent they will never use? Sadly, that isn’t the case. Take Nathan Boyer as an example. 13-year-old Nathan was doing baseball exercises with his instructor, Florence Freedom minor league baseball player Isaac Wenrich. Nathan contacted 911 and began doing CPR when Isaac abruptly passed out. Before the paramedics came and took over, he carried on for four minutes. Without a doubt, Isaac would have perished if Nathan hadn’t been there and knew what to do (Catherine). Unfortunately, assistance in knowing what to do is not always available. Between 300,000 and 325,000 people are reported to die each year from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) outside of a hospital, and this figure is increasing. According to “How Many Sudden Cardiac Arrest Deaths Are There Each Year in the United States,” the overall number of SCA deaths each year exceeds that of breast cancer, lung cancer, and HIV/AIDS put together.

In order to learn more about the human body and how to react in a medical emergency, students need to be able to do CPR. Schools and teachers should think about including CPR instruction in their health curriculum. More lives will be saved the more prepared individuals there are. Your existence could be preserved. What kind of world would it be if more Americans were willing to provide a hand?