The Delaware Department of Education proposed an amendment to the high school health standards currently under consideration by the State Board of Education to add CPR and AED instruction to the standards. As excited as the American Heart Association is by this development, that enthusiasm is blunted by a lingering concern. We asked the board and the department to make clear that the instruction be based on the scientific community’s evidence-based, consensus guidelines and that students use “psychomotor learning” as the basis for the standard. That remains unresolved.
Simply put, students need to push on a mannequin to really learn CPR, even “hands-only” CPR. Period. CPR at its essence is a physical act and a physical skill which can’t be adequately learned by anything other than getting down and pushing on a chest (hopefully a mannequin’s chest).
If you know a teacher, a school official, or your elected representative, tell them to talk to the board of education and the Secretary of Ed. and ask them to modify the proposed amendment to clarify that CPR instruction be based on “psychomotor learning”. When we’re working to prepare a generation of life-savers nothing substitutes for “psychomotor learning” when it comes to CPR. Just ask a parent of a child who has been saved! They’ll tell you.
Action: Ask a teacher, school official or elected representative to talk to the board of education and the Secretary of Ed. Visit our Take Action center to send your legislator a message today letting them know this issue is important to you and encourage others to send a message through Facebook.
Thank you for everything you do!
Jonathan Kirch
DE Government Relation Director
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