Devon Prep Sophomores Learn to Save Lives

Jan. 20, 2011 - PRLog -- The members of Devon Prep’s sophomore class recently participated in the American Heart Association’s Heart Saver course joining the more than 1000 Devon Prep students who have been trained in CPR over the past two decades. Each year the sophomore class is taught about the Chain of Survival and the important part they can play in helping victims of “sudden death” survive long enough to receive treatment with advanced techniques.

Film, hands-on experience, and lectures were used to teach the signs and signals of heart attack, stroke, and foreign body airway obstruction (choking). The students learned to evaluate breathlessness and pulselessness enabling them to know when to use CPR and abdominal thrusts (also known as the Heimlich maneuver).

Hands-on lessons were demonstrated on two types of mannequins, an adult torso and an infant, in order to learn how to perform these life saving skills on people of different sizes. In addition they were taught how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

According to Devon Prep’s School Nurse Mrs. Denise Gavin, who coordinated the CPR training, cardiovascular disease is still the number one health problem in the US. “The ability to respond and resuscitate someone long enough to receive advanced care is phenomenally rewarding,” she said. “Only 20% of sudden deaths are resuscitated. That 80% is where these young people can make a difference.”

Devon Prep is a private, Catholic, college preparatory school for young men in grades six to 12 conducted by the Piarist Fathers. The school, which is located on a 20 acre campus in Devon, enrolls nearly 300 students from the five county Philadelphia area.  For more information contact the Admissions Office at 610-688-7337 or visit www.devonprep.com or www.facebook.com/devonprep.