EMS Week Education Spotlight: Seminole County Medics Teach CPR to Area Students

More than a dozen personnel at the Seminole County Fire Department recently taught more than 950 Seminole high school students hands-only CPR.

Florida House Bill 157 (2021 Legislative) requires school districts to provide basic training in first aid, including CPR for students in 9th and 11th grades.

Seminole County FD firefighters-paramedics and its Community Outreach Team trained over 950 11th grade students in hands-only CPR. The students rotated through classes throughout the day and watched a CPR video before practicing hands-only CPR training.

Hands-only CPR has been shown to be as effective as conventional CPR for cardiac arrest at home, at work or in public.

“Time is tissue and seconds and minutes matter,” said Lt. Anthony Bowman, who helped train students. “It’s essential that when a cardiac arrest happens, first responders have the public’s help before arrival in order to help ensure that chain of survival.”