DETROIT – When we talk about getting or giving CPR, we don’t always think about young people, but Friday, 13 and 14-year-olds aren’t just learning how important it is but how they can use it to save the life of someone they know and love.
Detroit Fire Department visits schools across the city to give CPR training. Friday, they went to Detroit International Academy for Young Women to teach eighth graders hands-only CPR and how to work an AED.
“Studies have shown that bystanders are family members who know hands-only CPR, the chances of survival for cardiac arrest victim increases by 80%,” said Charles Simms, Detroit Fire Commissioner.
Since the 2017/2018 school year, Michigan law has made CPR training a high school graduation requirement. The Detroit Fire Department’s visit Friday (Feb. 16) is a way to give younger students a head start.
“We have heroes in the community, and by them (eighth graders) having the tools and education that we (first responders) have, they can be heroes every day of their life,” Simms said.
The life they save could be a stranger’s life, but that’s not always the case.
“We may assume that it’s, you know, someone else’s job or it’s, you know, maybe a male’s job or, you know, maybe it’s an adult’s job,” said the academy’s principal Sakina Bolden. “And so, our kids actually play a larger role, and our young ladies play a larger role than we think in families, and so it’s important to start as early as possible.”
For Detroit schools interested in Detroit Fire teaching hands-on CPR training to their students, email their community relations department at communityrelations@detroitmi.gov.