Guiao: Require students to undergo CPR training

MAGALANG – Pampanga first district Representative Joseller Guiao has filed a bill requiring K-12 high school students to undergo cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training.

House Bill Number 5891 entitled “CPR Training in Schools Act of 2015” declares the policy of the State to promote health consciousness among Filipinos and to equip ablebodied citizens with the necessary know-how and basic skills to become first responders during certain health emergencies.

Guiao said that the American Heart Association (AHA) states that every hour in the United States, 48 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside a hospital and that nine out of 10 people don not survive.

However, the AHA likewise states that a victim’s survival doubles or even triples when lifesaving CPR is administered, according to him.

“The advent of K-12 enhanced education program curriculum provides us with a golden window to emulate this best practice and help breed a new generation of life savers,” Guiao said.

He added that the bill proposes to make mandatory the inclusion of basic CPR training for K-12 high school students beginning school year 2016-2017 and every school year thereafter.

Once the bill is passed, all public and private high schools operating in the Philippines must provide their students with one or more training sessions in CPR, through the use of psychomotor skills in an age-appropriate manner, during the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh or twelfth grade.

CPR instruction must include training that has been developed by the Philippine Heart Association or the Philippine National Red Cross or using nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines for emergency cardiovascular care and incorporating psychomotor skills to support the instruction.

Schools must incorporate the training as part of their comprehensive health and physical education curriculum. As used in this section, “psychomotor skills” means hands-on practice to support cognitive learning.

A student must be certified by his/her competent school authority as having undergone the CPR training program, at least once, before being allowed to graduate, the bill stated.

Schools have the option of allowing emergency medical technicians, paramedics, police officers, firefighters, teachers, school employees or other qualified instructors to provide the training.

An instructor is required to be authorized to provide instruction in CPR only if the instruction is intended to lead to a certification for students. (Reynaldo G. Navales/Sun.Star pampanga)