Imagine you and your friend are eating lunch, having a good time, when suddenly they start choking. Panic sets in and you don’t know what to do, when out of nowhere, a student comes onto the scene and starts performing CPR, saving your friends life.

“Getting CPR certified affected the way I look at an emergency. I now feel more useful so if there really was a situation where someone needed help I’ll know what to do,” first year medical profession student, Gianna Brown said.

Students from the Medical Professions, Sports Medicine, and Early Childhood Education programs recently earned their CPR certification, from Heart Savers Inc., preparing them to save the lives of those on and off campus.

“Being able to help save a life in any situation is a good thing,” Principal Brooke Davis said.  “This certification may be needed at home, church, a store, restaurant or one of hundreds of other community based places.”

CPR is a life saving technique used to restart the heart or keep a person alive and stable in an emergency situation.  CPR can also be used on someone until authorities arrive.

“Our nurse can run and get to the gym if someone is having a cardiac emergency, but the quickest response is the people in the space,” Davis said. “She’ll run, and she’ll get to where she needs to go, and we as administrators will run, but those vital seconds of the first initial incident are super important for someone to step in and begin those basics.”

CPR is a certification that you never know if or when it will come in handy.

“I fished in Alaska for 21 years… I’ve had to use it on the boat several times,” Kishpaugh said. “It’s helped me all the way through my work”

Not only can students help a student in distress they can also add the certification to their resume or job application.

“Students who are looking for jobs should highlight any certifications they have,” Davis said. “In a competitive job market, it might be the difference for one of our students to get a job over another person.”

Equally as impressive as the certification is the way the Medical Professions program is impacting the lives of its students.

“As a student at Combs, I was one of the worst kids freshman year, and I [have] hope that when people seeing me doing my best and getting certified [it] is hope to them to never give up on their dreams,” Brown said.

Students interested in getting CPR certified or any other first aid classes can click the link below to schedule their class: https://heartsaversinc.com/