Grade nine students Shain Konrad and Olivia Crane practice their CPR skills on a mannequin.
(DANA REYNOLDS / iNFOnews.ca)
November 13, 2015 - 9:00 PM
KAMLOOPS – Students at Westsyde Secondary in Kamloops have learned valuable skills that one day might save a life.
Dionne Newman’s grade nine and ten phys ed class was one of the first in the district to learn how to administer CPR and use an AED or Automated External Defibrillator.
They demonstrated their newfound skills today, Nov. 13, at the announcement of a new training program.
“I definitely enjoyed learning about the defibrillator. I think it’s very important, especially in this day and age… when people don’t head to healthy lifestyle,” Newman says. She was trained in June 2015 and the kids in one of her classes were the guinea pigs for a program that would eventually be part of the school curriculum in Kamloops.
More than 1,100 students in 10 secondary schools across the Kamloops Thompson School District will learn the valuable lifesaving skills. The ACT Foundation has partnered with the district to provide CPR mannequins, AED training units and skills training for teachers.
“These kids are going to be growing up and facing it more and more. It’s an essential life skill,” Newman says.
Two such kids, Shain Konrad and Olivia Crane, feel after two weeks of training, they’re ready for whatever comes.
During the demonstration, Konrad performed chest compressions as Crane placed defibrillator pads on the mannequin’s chest and rib cage. The grade nine girls explained an AED is very simple to use. Each pad is labelled and the unit speaks to the user during the process.
“I liked this course, learning CPR, because it could help me save a life one day. And I want to be a lifeguard, so it’ll help me even more,” Konrad says, while Crane adds, "I feel like now I’d be more prepared in a bad situation."
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015