A True Lifesaving skill: CPR Teacher Feature with Professor Karelis
Jake Bernstein ’29
There is a reason why Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is the most widely known public lifesaving skill. Every year, tens of thousands of lives are saved in the prehospital environment by good samaritan CPR, raising the survival rate of someone in prehospital cardiac arrest from under 10% to over 40% if CPR is done by a bystander correctly before medical help can arrive. According to the American Heart Association, there is no age too young to learn CPR. If children at 4 can start learning to call 911 and those at 9 can start learning technique it makes sense that children aged 14-18 should be able to learn. This is exactly why FDNY CPR trainers were brought into school to teach PE classes in all grades over the last few weeks, organized by PE Professor Karelis who lent time to the Bardvark to be interviewed.
To begin, here is a question that has been on my mind since the CPR classes that have taken place: What does it take to be CPR certified?
To be certified you need a certain number of hours and classroom experience. This includes hybrid or all day in person class. This class includes everything from infants to adults and talks about blood loss as well as choking and hands only as well as berthing shield CPR. This goes over general first aid which can take full time. The certification can come from many organizations but I have used the American red cross. Each certification last for two years but it is always good to have practice.
Okay, next, do all New York City public school teachers need to be certified to be able to teach and if not who does and does not?
According to my knowledge all teachers do not need to be certified but in specific departments like PE or Science, teachers need different training including CPR or bloodborne pathogens classes.
For those new to Bard, is this the first year that CPR has been taught to students during PE and if so how and why was the decision made to include it in this year's curriculum?
This is the first year we are doing this. Professor Wit came to me with the idea and we were spitballing back and forth. We found this program through the FDNY and it just so happened that I was the one making contact and that set it up. It was great that all classes took this class. We got upwards of 95% of all students to be able to learn hands only CPR. I hope in the future we can do this every year and hope to one day have in-house so it can be more tailored to Bard students.
A personal question for you Professor, have you ever had to do CPR or witness someone doing it outside of a training environment?
No, I have never done CPR but when I was a video journalist I was shooting a video about a woman who did aquatic therapy. There was a man who nearly passed out in the pool and I supported him while 911 was called to make sure he did not fully lose consciousness.
Should students become CPR certified and what are the benefits associated with becoming certified?
I would love to see every student become certified as it gives you more opportunity to work with kids or seniors. It can give you confidence to be alone with these people and with those who have a preexisting medical condition in case of emergency.
Follow up, do you know of any palace where one can become CPR certified if they want to?
I enjoyed the place called the Aquatic Solution that takes place across the street by the pool by Nest+M. They also offer lifeguard training for those interested. The best way to find out is to go to the American Red Cross or the American Heart Association website as you can use them to find trainers in your area.
Blending with a previous question, when was your first CPR class and how has it impacted your day to day life and job?
I am pretty sure I took a CPR class before this but my most decent memory was over ten years ago before my son was born as I took an infant CPR class. I encourage all new parents to take the class as it was very helpful.
Lastly, what can we do to ourselves to prevent ever having to have CPR happen to us?
In general the most important thing is to get the care you need in order to maintain your cardiovascular and general health.
If you had another opportunity to teach a class like this, what would it be and why?
I would offer to stop the bleed class because the FDNY also offers it and it can be a great skill to know. There are people who have lived through trauma like this and it is important to find a way to make sure we acknowledge that and respect their feelings. The more people we have trained in these lifesaving skills the better off we are as a community. This is also why I think tailoring the lessons to the needs of our students can be better.