Representatives from high schools in the East Mississippi Center for Education Development school district will participate in an educational session on how to use the CPR in Schools kit – funded by the Mississippi Healthcare Alliance.

The training is scheduled Tuesday, Jan. 10 at Mississippi State University’s Meridian Campus Room 001. 

The Mississippi Healthcare Alliance partnered with the American Heart Association to purchase CPR in Schools Kits for all Mississippi high schools who do not already have a kit. In total, 176 CPR in Schools Kits will be placed in high schools around the state. The kit enables students to learn the lifesaving skills of CPR in just one class period. The kit, which is designed specifically for schools, also, teaches AED use and choking relief. T

Dr. Harper Stone, president of the Mississippi Healthcare Alliance and AHA board member said in a news release that more than 400,000 people suffer out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest each year. Nearly 90 percent don’t survive. 

“We would like to change that, and we can’t think of a better place to start than with our state’s students,” Stone said in a statement. “The Mississippi Healthcare Alliance is proud to invest in our state’s future by providing students with these American Heart Association’s CPR in Schools kits.”

Senate Bill 2185, which passed in 2015, requires all high school graduates to have hands-on training in CPR before graduation. With this new requirement, the American Heart Association has been working to place the equipment needed to conduct such a training in high schools throughout Mississippi.

According to the news release, each CPR in Schools Training Kit includes:

• All tools needed to train 10-20 students at a time.

• Is reusable – one kit can train hundreds.

• Is portable for easy sharing. Students can also take home to train their family and friends.

• Is easily implemented – any educator can lead the training in one class period or less.

• Teaches Hands-Only CPR, CPR with breaths, AED skills, and choking relief.

• Includes a Facilitator Guide to help train faculty, staff, parents, volunteers, and community members, too.

• Offers implementation materials available online including a lesson plan, pre-and post-tests for students, and facilitator training record.