Students Get Two Minutes to Save Lives

Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive…Feel the city breakin’ and everybody shaking, and we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive… As students filed into the Pacific High School Gym Wednesday, May 20 the strains of the 1977 Bee Gees mega hit filled the room. It was an appropriate prelude for the task at hand as American Medical Response (AMR) of San Bernardino County presented two minutes of education for saving lives. This was the first year the AMR team had come to the high school to instruct the students as part of a nationwide initiative to educate as many people as possible in the skill of Compression Only CPR on that day. According to Jeremy Shumaker, inter-facility transportation manager of AMR, Sudden Cardiac Arrest is more common than most people realize. Nearly 300,000 occur annually in the United States, and 80 percent of those cardiac arrests occur in the home. Since 70 percent of Americans say they feel helpless during a cardiac arrest because they don’t know what to do, teaching community members Hands-Only CPR will help more victims to have bystander performed CPR and therefore, a higher rate of survival. Giancarlo Botelo, department chair for the Physical Education Department at PHS, said the high school was excited that AMR offered the program to the students this year. “I think it’s fascinating that they want to come and expose our kids to this training, mainly because it’s something that could help them save a loved one’s life.” Botelo added, “Just the thought that our students could help increase the chances of living for someone suffering from Sudden Cardiac Arrest is amazing. We are planning to see this program come back every year now, hoping to build on the foundation the students are getting here today, and of course, we want every student to have the opportunity to get the training next year.” The Stayin’ Alive song played as students entered the gym and received instruction. As they began to practice the Compression only techniques under the watchful eye of Crafton Hills College (CHC) and College of the Desert (COD) EMT program interns, it was explained that the song runs at 100 beats a minute, which is the perfect rate for the timing of the compressions needed to keep someone ‘stayin’ alive’ in the event of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Robert Coster, Account Executive at AMR lead the groups of students in the two minute training. Coster shared, “80 percent of cardiac arrests happen in the home, so this training could make all the difference in the world to one of these student’s loved ones. And who knows? Maybe this will motivate students to start a career in the medical profession.” Coster pointed out a group of students who had lingered after the majority of them had left. “See the ones who stayed back to learn more? That’s a good thing, it shows that these students really understand they have someone’s life in their hands. They know they could save a life.” “We trained 678 students at Pacific High School that day,” said Dave Molloy, operations manager for AMS. The total of trained students in San Bernardino County was 4743, which included students from Pacific High School, Colton High School, Colton Middle School, Don Lugo High School in Chino, Rancho Cucamonga High School and Mesa Linda Middle School in Victorville. “We’re looking forward to coming back next year, and encourage anyone who would like to provide training for their facility and staff members to contact us,” said Molloy. Anyone interested in scheduling AMR to provide Compression only CPR training should contact Shalon Watkins, Special Events Coordinator for AMR at 909-477-5026.