Students learn CPR and stroke response skills in hands-on boot camp

Nearly 60 seventh graders at Heritage Middle School learned about CPR, AED use and stroke recognition during an Essentia Health program focused on emergency response and healthy choices.

Experts at Essentia Health are teaching seventh graders at Heritage Middle School about the importance of CPR, heart care and recognizing a stroke as part of their Save a Life Boot Camp.

It can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

"They may encounter it now. They may encounter it in 20 years, but what we're teaching today is stuff that can stay with them," said Chelsey Kuznia, stroke program manager with Essentia Health in Fargo.

Kuznia and EMS providers with Essentia Health in Fargo taught nearly 60 students how to stay calm and be prepared if they ever need to use an automated external defibrillator (AED) or start CPR on Friday, April 24.

"Having real life experiences and real life simulation really is important for these kids, because if you're going to get put in this situation and you've never seen or done it before, it's hard to know what to do," Kuznia said.

The students also learned about the risk factors and symptoms of a stroke and heart attack, including what a blood clot looks like and the unhealthy habits that can lead to emergencies.

"I've already heard a few kids say 'Oh, I probably should cut back on the caffeine drinks. I drink too much, and that's going to affect my heart,'" said Nicole Seyfried, the K-12 physical education and health curriculum coordinator with Heritage

Organizers say that awareness is what they want to accomplish, not just preparing students to respond in an emergency, but helping them make healthier choices every day.

"I think these skills that the seventh graders are learning are skills that everybody should learn. Because, again, you never know when you may end up in that situation, that you may have to perform something that could save somebody's life," Seyfried said.

Kuznia said the No. 1 risk for both strokes and heart attacks is high blood pressure.