Seventh-graders Greg Hackault, right, and John Makarenko, center, of Chief Umtuch Middle School, practice hands-only CPR in the gym last week.
Vivian Harelson practices a few chest compressions during the CPR training at Chief Umtuch Middle School last week.
Fire District 3 Chief Steve Wrightson and his crew have made plenty of educational rounds to local high schools to teach the fundamentals of CPR, but they’d never visited a middle school.
Last week, though, members of District 3 went to Chief Umtuch Middle School in Battle Ground for a few hours to teach seventh- and eighth-graders the basics of hands-only CPR. The session was the final part of a three-week health and fitness campaign at the school. During the CPR training, students were given the opportunity to practice chest compressions on body dummies.
The idea of bringing the training to Chief Umtuch was brought up by health and fitness teachers Blake Bowers, Guy Brown and Tami Blackman.
“I think providing these skills to people who are capable is important, and these kids are young, but they’re more than capable, even at this age,” Bowers said.
When Bowers brought the idea to the school's administration, Principal Beth Beattie and Assistant Principal Matthew Kesler were all for it.
“It’s a great idea for them to learn this,” Beattie said.
For Chief Wrightson, the feeling was mutual, and he said the decision to branch out a little and teach to a younger audience was an easy choice.
“Maybe someday one of them will save a life,” Wrightson said. “And anyone can do it, even this age group. I don’t know when they’ll ever use it, but they could. We’re planting a seed.”
In addition to the Fire District 3 crew members, several high school cadets also assisted the training session. All of them were juniors and from local schools.
Although no students were walking away with CPR certifications afterward, the kids all received red bracelets to show completion of the brief training. Students admitted they thought it would be more difficult and complicated than what it turned out to be.
“I guess it’s a little hard, but you can learn it really quickly,” said seventh-grader John Makarenko on performing the chest compressions.
“The form (of doing a compression) wasn’t as hard as I thought,” added Greg Hackault, also in seventh grade.
For Wrightson, Bowers and Beattie, the payoff is in the fact that the students want to keep learning.
“I know it will help more easily learn all of CPR in the future,” Makarenko said, and Hackault added that someday he wants to be taught every step.
“A lot of these kids are interested in CPR and a lot of them even have personal experiences with family members or such,” Bowers said. “The fact that they’re learning the language and basics so early is a really good thing.”
