Rush Foundation Hospital, American Heart Association team up to teach CPR to students

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Nov. 20, 2003
Rush Foundation Hospital and the American Heart Association are teaming together to train middle school and high school students in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The announcement of the CPR in Schools program was scheduled to be held this morning during a news conference in the Rush Medical Group building.
Hospital and heart association officials hope to train at least 3,000 students over a three-year period.
This school year, Lamar High School, Northeast Lauderdale High School and West Lauderdale Attendance Center will begin the program.
Teachers from each of the participating schools are trained as instructors and then provided with teaching materials needed to put the program into action in the classroom.
Students will be taught CPR either by their teachers or peers. The program's total cost, estimated at $61,000, is being made possible by Rush Health Systems.
Clarkdale Attendance Center, Meridian High School and Southeast Attendance Center are scheduled to begin the program in the fall of 2004.
According to the American Heart Association, more than 220,000 Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest each year and less than 5 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims survive.
One of the association's goals is to increase the survival rate of cardiac arrest victims to 25 percent by the year 2010. The organization hopes training more people in CPR will save more lives.
For more information about the CPR in Schools program call Kate Brand at 485-1323.