More NWA schools become ‘heart safe’ with defibrillators, CPR training

Northwest Arkansas schools are taking new steps to keep students and staff safe. They’re partnering with Project Adam and Arkansas Children’s Hospital to make local schools “heart safe”.

Project Adam is a national project that brings defibrillators and CPR training to schools. It’s named after Adam Lemel who died from cardiac arrest while playing basketball.

Jana Brown is a registered nurse who used to work in an emergency room.

“I hope to get all schools in our district to be heart safe,” said Brown.

Now she works as a school nurse at Westside Elementary in Rogers.

“Through the ER experience, it just hides in perfectly. And I definitely feel like this is part of my calling to help and implement for our children in all the schools,” said Brown.

Brown got approval from the Rogers School Board to bring training to schools. Now she is on a mission to bring AED and CPR training to the Rogers School District. She says with the help of local fire and EMS departments, Westside Elementary would be the first school in Rogers to get certified.

“I’m just really excited and very thankful that I have the support of Rogers Public Schools and the community to implement this for our students,” said Brown.

Charles Wooley is the outreach coordinator for the Heart Institute at Arkansas Children’s.

“We really added our very first hard safe designated school in February,” said Wooley.

He says nearly 80 schools in Arkansas are currently approved. A number he says is rapidly increasing.

“Since then, we have added today was number 78 across the state. So I’m really, really happy about that. I’m proud of the numbers we’re growing,” said Wooley.

He says schools in Springdale, Siloam Springs, and Huntsville are already certified. But out of 24 schools in Rogers, Brown says more work needs to be done.

“So we definitely have our work cut out for us and so it’s doable,” said Brown.