By Brian Newsome
The Gazette
Copyright 2007 The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Even a few minutes without oxygen is enough for someone to die, emergency workers say.
CPR administered in those critical moments before rescuers arrive often makes the difference in whether someone survives an injury or illness.
To that end, the Colorado Springs Fire Department is piloting a program this year to give widespread training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the community.
It began Wednesday at Challenger Middle School, where students spent their physical education classes performing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth respiration on dummies. By the end of the school year, firefighters plan to reach all 526 students, said Lt. Julie Stone of the Fire Department’s medical division. It appears to be the first training of this scope in Colorado, according to the American Heart Association.
If successful, the program may expand to other Pikes Peak region schools, city employees or others, Stone said. Firefighters hope that students will pass on their knowledge to friends and family. Stone said 80 percent of CPRs are performed by people who know the patient.
The brief training is not for certification, and emergency workers don’t expect people to master the procedure in less than an hour.
Still, they say incorrectly performed CPR is better than standing idly by. Compressions without mouth-tomouth, for example, would help at least partially oxygenated blood to circulate. That’s a critical step in keeping someone’s brain alive.
CPR certifications, needed for some jobs, are usually obtained by private organizations and come with additional skills and requirements.
Wednesday, several classes of sixth-, seventh- and eighthgraders watched the American Heart Association’s “Family & Friends CPR Anytime,” a 22-minute instructional program. Colorado Springs firefighters and trainers from American Medical Response assisted students as they practiced on dozens of adult-sized upper torsos.
Kenzie Harline, 13, an eighth-grader, said she was glad to get the training in case “you see someone lying in the street.”