Chinook Sixth Graders Learn Valuable Lifesaving Skills

Students of Meadowlark Elementary School in Chinook were recently given the opportunity to learn some valuable skills that one day might just save your life. In a class put together by teachers Melinda Jones, Alicia Noel, and Janelle Deanon, 6th grade students took a two day course on CPR and first aid, lead by Jessica Kuntz, a registered nurse and certified instructor. The course began on April 17th with Kuntz leading the children in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) techniques, which focuses on applying rhythmic compressions to the chest to force the heart to circulate blood throughout the body, while also providing rescue breaths to fill the lungs with oxygen with the hope of keeping a body alive and hopefully to reset the systems to restore life to a person whose body is not able to function well on its own. This first day also trained the participants in the use of an AED, or Automated External Defibrillators, how to recognize a choking victim, and how to clear the airway. On the second day, the class learned the basics of first aid which focused on how to stop bleeding, how to recognize the signs of a seizure, how to revive a victim of drowning, and how to immobilize a broken bone to prevent further injury.

Through her unique style of teaching, with games and prizes being played and won for the best team effort in saving a life and for the best rhythm in chest compressions, all participants in Kuntz's class passed the course, with the three teachers and eight of the students choosing to pay the $30 fee to become certified, earning the right to carry an official card from the American Heart Association, which is valid for two years and showing that they have been trained in these important, life-saving techniques.

"I feel that these are important skills for kids to learn" Kuntz said. "I hope that they never have to use anything that I've taught them, but feel that it is important to know and be familiar with these just in case."

Kuntz went on to say, "as an instructor, I can quote the statistics; that immediate CPR can triple a person's chance to live, and that roughly 50% of witnesses to an emergent situation will merely stand by and do nothing, mostly because they do not know what to do or how to do it. As a nurse, I've seen first hand what was essentially a dead body be revived with proper CPR, and have also seen too many people pass away, lives that could have been saved had CPR been performed prior to an ambulance arriving. I know how important these skills can be at any age, and feel that the more experience and training a person has, the better off they are to help hopefully one day save a life. These courses that myself and others teach serve a vital role, but I think that these courses should be taught in the schools, that they be made more widely available to our young people. If more children had access to these basic procedures, more lives could be saved."