Student Contributor -S. Fleener
The middle school and high school students I did my project with worked with The American Red Cross to get their first aid certification. They went to a training and worked with teachers and coaches of the local school district to help them get CPR and first aid certified. This certification allows students to be a valuable asset to their communities and help people who are in a potential medical emergency.
Students learned about why knowing first aid procedures is important and how to recognize if someone is having a medical emergency. There are multiple parts of the first aid training, including basic wound treatment, CPR, administration of Epi-Pens and Naloxone for opiate overdoses. The training also trained students on how to assess a situation where an accident occurred for safety and how to protect themselves from bodily fluids and bloodborne pathogens. This is a valuable service to the community in an indirect way. Even though the students aren’t taking direct action in their communities, they are helping their communities by being prepared to help in an emergency medical situation, and potentially save someone’s life. One of the most fun parts of the project was having students practice giving CPR. This is the first time that many of these students have experienced how it might feel to give CPR and to realize that the physical requirements to give proper CPR is surprisingly high. This was really good for the kids to experience because you want them to be prepared to give CPR in an emergency situation.
This project was very powerful for the kids who participated and worth the extra time it took to finish the certification. The teachers and I spent a good amount of time working one on one with the students and helping them through the physical parts of the certification process. This worked really well and was very helpful for the students. The one thing I would modify would be maybe having students work together after working with the adults so they can see what its like to work together. Overall everything in this project went very well and I am very happy with the results and the experience the students had. This was a worthwhile project!
