Firefighters are training students at Germantown High School in hands-only CPR.
The training, being conducted Thursday in what are normally P.E. classes, takes about 30 minutes.
Students watch a video and then practice chest compressions on a mannequin.
Joel Farren, Germantown High School’s Principal, said the Germantown Fire Department reached out to the school about the training. Farren said it did so at an opportune time, as a new state law requires Wisconsin 7th through 12th graders be trained in CPR and the use of an AED starting with the 2017-18 school year.
“That’s not why we’re doing this today, but it’s a start to having that become part of our curriculum,” Farren said.
Fire Chief Gary Weiss said the training doesn’t amount to full, CPR certification. But he said it’s thorough enough that the students should be able to assist someone having a heart attack.
Farren said it’s useful for the students to have the training should a classmate have an emergency. But it can be used everywhere.
“We get them trained in this and then they go on to college, they go elsewhere, and the more people we can have trained the better,” he said.
Westin Feltz, a senior, said he enjoyed learning something so valuable.
“It was a great experience,” Feltz said. “I learned how to use my hands, intertwine my fingers, and do a chest compression.”
In total, almost 500 students were expected to receive the training Thursday.
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