By EMS1 Staff
SIOUX FALL, S.D. — Legislation requiring high school students to learn CPR will be presented to the state’s Senate next week.
The American Heart Association said the new bill would add more than 10,000 civilians trained in CPR.
“This legislation would train what is basically the next generation of bystander CPR responders in South Dakota,” Chrissy Meyer, AHA communications director, told KSFY.
Meyer said since many students in the state live in rural communities, it can take EMS longer to reach them during a medical emergency.
“The more people that have the knowledge to be able to act and take action, the better off the rest of the population will be,” Scott Christenson, Paramedics Plus director of clinical services, said. “If a person can be beating the heart for someone, you are getting blood to the brain and that is the most crucial step.”
Several states across the nation have already legalized or proposed similar requirements for high school students.