Seventh-graders to learn hands-only CPR

09/25/2013 - The Sonoma County Office of Education is supporting an initiative to provide hands-only CPR training in seventh-grade physical education classes across the county. This program was launched as part of the multi-agency Save Lives Sonoma goal of training every Sonoma County resident in hands-only CPR.

First responders will support local teachers as they train students. Facilitators hope that every public school in Sonoma County will adopt the training as part of the P.E. curriculum by 2014. Projected instruction time for the program is one day per school. There is no cost to the program as it is a fully volunteer effort.

The school-based project showed promise last year when Rincon Valley Middle School piloted it with their seventh-grade students. “It was a very successful program and all of the people involved were impressed with the ease of training and how the students took to the skills,” says Lauri McFadden, operations manager for Sonoma Life Support/American Medical Response. McFadden will play a key role in the program’s implementation by coordinating local EMS partners to conduct the school-based training.

Save Lives Sonoma’s ultimate goal is not only to raise awareness of the importance of bystander CPR, but also to eventually have 100 percent of Sonoma County residents trained. For more information, contact Lauri McFadden at (707) 536-0425 or lauri.mcfadden@amr.net.