More than 12-hundred eighth graders from South Bend and Mishawaka learned CPR today in a mass training at Four Winds Field.
“This, we believe is the first regional mass training for CPR,” Andrew Waind, the executive director of enFocus, the group that put on the training, said.“And we’ve chosen to do that through eighth graders because clinical research shows that there’s a multiplier effect on how many communicators are trained when mass training is administered through children.”
Waind said the idea is, the kids learn, then they go home and teach their parents, siblings or friends.
Karla Lee is the director of intermediate programs at South Bend Community School
Corporation. “Some people might say well these are eighth graders why would this be important to them? It’s important because it helps them to understand how they are a vital part and how they are connected to the community and the community needs.”
Each student got a kit with an inflatable CPR manikin, training video and information to take home.
Wiand said they plan to do more trainings like this with the schools and possibly in the community in the future.