SALEM, Ore. – Oregon high school students would be required to learn CPR to get a diploma, under a bill being considered by state lawmakers. A group of students were in Salem Wednesday to lobby on the issue Wednesday.
Eighth grade students from Valley Catholic School in Beaverton came to the Senate education committee to show off their CPR skills. They demonstrated on inflatable mannequins with internal clickers that let them know they’re pushing down deep enough.
The school’s curriculum has included CPR for more than 20 years. Students are working with their fire department to expand the program. Now those local firefighters are helping the kids push lawmakers to make every high school require the training.
Eighth grader Binh Luu doesn’t doubt he could use his skills in a real emergency.
“My training it’s instant, it’s instincts I do step by step and it really really is automatic for me now,” he says.
Sudden cardiac arrest is responsible for more than 300,000 deaths in the United States each year. Several other states make CPR training a requirement to get a high school diploma.