Students learn life-saving skills with ‘CPR kiosk’ in Commons

Students are participating in a new interactive CPR training inside the VCU Student Commons, designed to be a quick and accessible way for all to learn the essentials of hands-only CPR in under five minutes.

The American Heart Association held a ceremony on Jan. 7 alongside its community partners to commemorate the state’s first “Mobile CPR Training Kiosk” in the VCU Student Commons building.

Sponsored by finance company Genworth and Carescout, the interactive touchscreen kiosk features a video program that provides a brief introduction and overview of hands-only CPR, followed by a practice and 30-second test session. The kiosk then provides feedback to the user based on their compressions and proper hand placement — overall factors that influence the effectiveness of CPR.

The CT spoke to students who engaged with the self-teaching device. Third-year student Ruth Abiy admitted it has been more than a couple of years since she last engaged with CPR training.

“The last time I got shown CPR was back in 2019, back in high school gym class,” Abiy said. “They only ever taught us how to perform CPR, but not what we should do before and after when engaging with the person who is suffering from cardiac arrest.”

More than 350,000 people experience cardiac arrest outside of the hospital each year in the United States, including 23,000 children. Of the people who suffer cardiac arrests outside of a hospital, 90% do not survive, according to The National Heart Association.

Those who come from marginalized communities are less likely to receive attention by a bystander when experiencing cardiac arrest, according to a 2022 study. 

The American Red Cross held a survey in 2017 which confirmed that four out of every 10 adults have completed, or shown interest in taking, a life-saving course.

Of those surveyed, seven out of 10 said they wanted to refresh their skills despite already having prior training, the main reasoning being the safety of their family.

Natalie Maddox, a third-year criminal justice student and lifeguard at the Cary Street Gym, was provided a more thorough and insightful protocol for CPR through her job.

“At the beginning of every school semester we have a huge training, and normally we first go into the waters and proceed with needed protocol for that scenario and do water rescues here at the Cary Street Gym,” Maddox said.

Maddox noted that despite the heavy training being done early on in the semesters, the procedures are constantly being hammered-in throughout work with “spot checks”  — random checks by the lifeguard instructor before or after a shift.

She would later note how frequent it is to be asked about CPR protocol when given a training scenario.

“They then give you a scenario, such as a CPR scenario and you would have to respond in an actual emergency, so pretty frequently we are doing CPR and we are reviewing the basics,” Maddox said.

There are two simple steps for hands-only CPR, according to The American Heart Association. The first is to call 911. Then, lay the person experiencing cardiac arrest flat on the ground. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest at 100-120 beats per minute.

The kiosk will remain in the Commons for three months before continuing its ongoing tour, the American Heart Association stated in an email. It is scheduled to move to nine different locations across central Virginia within the next three years.