Moment: November 13th, 2019 at 9:52 AM IST
Innocent student who doesn't know what's coming: How do you say hello in Texas?
Me: HOWDY!!! *throws a gig*
As someone who grew up in Texas, I learned the importance of CPR skills not only through my various healthcare endeavors, for which my health science teachers trained us in CPR every two years to help us keep our certifications up to date, but also through my common curriculum. When I was a freshman in high school, the Texas Legislature signed into law a requirement for all students to learn CPR at least once before graduation. The American Heart Association worked with Texas lawmakers to file House Bill 897, which states that “a school district or open-enrollment charter school shall provide instruction to students grades 7 through 12 in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.” Students don’t have to get certified, but simply need to know the skills and how to put them into action.
In order to fulfill this requirement for students at our high school as well as members of the general public who never had the opportunity to receive this training, my health science organization, HOSA – Future Health Professionals, used to teach CPR at assemblies, health fairs, and sporting events. I’m by no means a certified instructor or even an expert at that, but I taught hands-only CPR for four years, competed in HOSA competitions on CPR presentations, and have been certified in both HeartSaver and Health Care Provider CPR, so when we were brainstorming ideas for my internship project and the staff at Kriti Social Initiatives offhandedly mentioned that they needed someone to teach CPR, I leaped at the chance to share my knowledge with these students.
I am especially passionate about teaching these kids (they called me Aunty so I think I can call them kids?) how to respond to a cardiac emergency because as of 2016, 98% of Indians do not know how to perform CPR, but it has the power to double or triple a person’s chances of survival after a heart attack. Although I started teaching Hands-Only CPR in high school, this is a very different experience, as the schools don’t have the budget to buy CPR training mannequins like we did (check out that 2015 picture below to see what they looked like), so instead I used a travel inflatable pillow with a T-shirt over it to give the students a chance to get a feel for hand placement, body alignment, and compression depth. It was a little silly but it kept the students engaged and they got a slightly better understanding of what performing CPR is actually like.
I had a lot of fun teaching them how to find pulse both on themselves and their friends, and I played the song “Stayin Alive” and had them clap along so they would understand how fast 100 beats per minute actually is (it’s a lot slower than you would think). We then practiced finding our own pulse, then taking the pulse of a partner. I took my own pulse while they practiced, and I was at 125 bpm, which I guess just goes to show how nervous I was!
We then went through the process of making sure the scene is safe, approaching a heart attack victim, calling for help, and determining if the victim is breathing or has a pulse before starting compressions. At the end of the class, I passed out little cards with the CPR instructions on them, which they could keep as a handy reference if they ever needed a refresher.
Also as a side note, I’ve included a link to the condensed version of my lesson plan below if any of you would like to access it :)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14nDutVkkl405FKhmNPW_NuomdlvolcMq/view?usp=sharing
At Daksha School, I had about 70 6th through 8th graders sit in on my presentation. I was a bit concerned that these students would be a little young, but I was blown away both by how mature and knowledgeable they were. When I asked them what some of the symptoms of a heart attack are, one boy said, “acute chest pain.” When I was a kid, “acute” was something I’d apply to pictures of puppies and kittens, and later, maybe in geometry. They already knew what the normal heart rate and respiratory rate were, and they thought it was cool that they could measure these rates on themselves and their fellow classmates.
At both schools, I asked if they had any questions, and a few students posed a few thought-provoking questions that led to some fantastic discussions, so we got to talk about the students’ experiences with their family members who suffered from a heart attack, as well as things we can do from a young age to make sure that our hearts are healthy and strong even when we get older. Surprisingly, at each school, there was one student who raised their hand and asked, “What do they speak in Texas?” and both times, I answered that we speak Texan! Just kidding, I told them that we speak English, and I taught them how to say “Howdy TAMU,” which made for a cute video. These kids have some gigs that are even stronger than their CPR compressions, so maybe there are some future members of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of 2027?
