February is heart month, and Pennsylvania passed a new law that requires that all students learn CPR before they graduate from high school.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve already been doing this at Cornell High School in Coraopolis. That\u2019s because five years ago, a student there collapsed in gym class. His heart just stopped.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, two staff members knew CPR, and with their chest compressions and an AED, they were able to restart his heart before the paramedics arrived, and the boy survived.<\/p>\n
When the current freshmen taking the CPR class hear this story, it hits home. Samani Allen said she was \u201ckinda scared.\u201d Lilly Brown said, \u201cI heard it can happen anywhere, but that it can happen at a school kind of surprised me.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the American Heart Association, about 326,000 people in the United States, including more than 6,000 children, experience unexpected cardiac arrest outside of a hospital every year. Sadly, 90 percent of them die.<\/p>\n
Bruce Benda, Chairman of the Board for the Greater Pittsburgh American Heart Association, lived to tell how CPR saved his life, when his heart stopped at a golf outing.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo gentlemen, lay people, jumped into action and did CPR on me for 20 minutes. (They) kept me alive until the EMT\u2019s arrived,\u201d Benda said.<\/p>\n
The survival rate for sudden cardiac arrest drops by 10 percent every second CPR is not performed. CPR trainer Deb Banks teaches the kids how to push at 100 beats a minute by singing the song \u201cStayin\u2019 Alive\u201d.<\/p>\n