A scary moment in the home.

One weekend morning, my then-six-year-old son ran into the kitchen holding a half-eaten piece of fruit and looking panicked. He and his brothers had just finished eating breakfast before rushing off to play a game in the next room. Only a faint wheeze emerged when my son tried to breathe. He was choking.

Years earlier, my husband and I had taken a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid class for new parents taught by paramedics and nurses at our local community center. We immediately used techniques we’d practiced in that class to successfully dislodge the food, and our son recovered fully. That long-ago instruction had not only given us the knowledge needed to clear our son’s airway but also the confidence to do so calmly during a frightening moment.

A 4th-grader learns proper technique for chest compressions and how to use an AED. Photo by Dulce Rodriguez.

Collaborating with the community to empower students.

In our May issue In Our Community column, nurses in the Klein Independent School District in Harris County, Texas, describe how they have been instilling this combination of lifesaving knowledge and confidence in elementary school students for the past two decades.

They provide CPR, automated external defibrillator (AED), and first aid education to children age 11 and younger.

They have a “vision,” they write, “of students being prepared to respond to life-threatening emergencies while at school, with their families, and in their communities. . . .Because emergencies can happen at any time, our school district’s nurses have a history of collaborating with community partners to ensure elementary school students learn basic lifesaving skills and are empowered to act should an emergency arise.”

This community effort involves coaching by the school nurses, local EMS providers who share their CPR and AED expertise and resources, and high school students who have been certified in CPR by the district’s nurses.

A collaborative community effort.

The “CPR for Students” program is a voluntary event for fifth graders that is held once a year over the course of a day or two on campuses within the district. “The event begins with a discussion led by school nurses and local EMS on the importance of learning CPR,” the authors explain. “It includes a live demonstration of these lifesaving skills, a viewing of the American Heart Association’s ‘Hands-Only CPR’ instructional video, and student hands-on skills practice.”

Last summer, a school nurse in the district expanded this effort, creating a four-day camp in which children from kindergarten to fifth grade are taught lifesaving techniques using age-appropriate learning models. “Empowering students to take on leadership roles allows them to become the teacher and creates a ripple effect—they have been exposed to critical knowledge that they can utilize in their communities,” the authors write.

This lifesaving education has also provided important opportunities for partnership between the school nurses and the community.

“What began as an educational opportunity…has now blossomed into a collaborative community effort that has had a positive impact on our schools, staff, and communities. Local paramedics donate their time and expertise during these events, and one local EMS service generously donated 50 CPR manikins and instructor kits, further demonstrating the benefit of school nurses working collaboratively with community partners…”

To read more about the work of these school nurses, see “Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Emergency Responders.”