Hands only cardio resuscitation – taught so far to 10,000 Manteca Unified students – was presented to freshmen at the East Union High School gym Wednesday by a team from Manteca Ambulance, East Union High School and be.tech Health Career students.
District physical education coordinator Tevani Liotard, Manteca Ambulance general manager Jonathon Mendoza, and the health care students from be.tech supervised the CPR protocol on chest manikins that require 100 to 150 compressions per minute to pump blood to the brain during a heart stoppage. They noted the need for the rescuer to pair off with another student after tiring in the first two minutes.
Thee hands only cardio program taught to district high school students was developed by retired MUSD Health Services Chief Caroline Thibodeau and Liotard who noted that as of last April over 10,000 students had been taught the “hands only” protocol. That means with a freshman class being taught each year, all grade levels at high school know have the hands on resuscitation skills.
The next schools on the training schedule include Weston Ranch High on Oct. 22, Lathrop High on Nov. 9, and Manteca High on Dec. 7.
A power point lecture and presentation was given to the students before the hands on training took place.
Some 95 percent of the student population at the high schools has the knowledge to react and perform Hands Only CPR, Liotard said. At Manteca High School all teachers have the knowledge as well.
“Every minute delay equals a 10 percent (reduction in the) chance of survival,” she added, noting that the majority of the students say, “Doing chest compressions is harder than I thought, but, I now feel I can do it or tell someone how to do it.”
It was four years ago in December when a student at Manteca High collapsed in the middle of class experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest. Due to the quick action of the Manteca Vice Principal, the Manteca Police School Resource Officer, the Manteca District Ambulance EMTs, paramedics and firefighters, along with continuous care at St. Joseph’s Hospital and at Stanford Hospital the student is alive today and fully recovered.
MHS Principal Frank Gonzales saw the importance of Hands Only CPR and trained his entire staff and continues to train all new teachers each year. In the Spring of 2015 a student saved his dad by using Hands Only CPR.
The scheduled classes for next year are still in the planning stage. Anyone interested in attending any of the dates, contact Tevani Liotard by calling (209) 858-0876 or on line at tliotard@musd.net for the exact time and place.
To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.
