Some White Plains middle schoolers got a lesson in saving lives this Heart Health Month from White Plains Hospital.
The hospital is teaching 1,000 seventh and eighth graders at Highlands Middle School lifesaving CPR because seconds matter when someone goes into cardiac arrest.
Targeting the age group is important because 3 out of 4 cardiac arrests that don't happen in hospitals are said to happen in homes.
"I think it's a great age, they have the attention span, they have the have the appropriate strength to do CPR and they are engaged especially after they are seeing what happened on the field in Buffalo," says Dr. Rafael Torres, the chief quality officer at White Plains Hospital.
The moment Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on field in the middle of a game from cardiac arrest is a moment middle schoolers News 12 spoke to say had a profound impact on them.
"It was pretty scary. If you didn't' know how to save him he might have died," said eighth grader David Cropper.
The incident magnified the importance of knowing hands-on CPR.
The students also participated in the heart healthy activity of jump roping and learned the following simple steps about if someone goes into cardiac arrest:
- Call 911 for help first.
- Begin delivering chest compressions at a rate of 100 to 120 per minute with a depth of 2 inches for adults.
- A good measure of how fast you should go is to match compressions to songs like Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive."
- Delivering chest compressions can be tiring, which is why it's best to take turns with someone else.
- Interruptions should be kept to a minimum as you wait for first responders to arrive.