BHS seniors Jared Keefover, left, and Jason Sander practice hands-on CPR training.
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — West Virginia’s middle and high school students are now required to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation in health class.
Senate Bill 7, which went into effect July 1, updated CPR instruction in state schools based on a program established by the American Heart Association.
“The mission of the AHA is to reduce the number of cardiac illnesses and strokes by 20 percent by the year 2020,” said Christine Compton, government relations director.
The AHA is constantly conducting research to help determine how to reach those goals and how to increase a better culture of health, Compton said.
“One of the ways we are trying to do that is by empowering our young people to have the CPR skills in the event that someone near them needs help,” she said.
West Virginia is one of 27 states that have passed the legislation, Compton said.
“Just under two million students a year will be trained now with all of the states who have the legislation in place,” she said.
Though CPR was already part of the health curriculum in West Virginia high schools, there was one missing component…
