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Grant funds rescue kits for Dawson Co. students
Nurses teach 7th graders CPR skills
CPR Grant pic
School nurses Jeannie Edwards, left, and Tara Sewell instruct Crossroads students in CPR from left: Cody Mason, 14, Ashley Rawlings, 15, and Tony Chitwood, 13, on Nov. 11. - photo by Frank Reddy Dawson Community News

Thanks to a recent CPR training grant, Dawson County school nurses are “enlisting the help of students to save lives.”

  

District School Nurse Coordinator Jeannie Edwards said the funding will allow her and colleagues to teach a course to seventh graders in Dawson County and all students at Crossroads School.

  

Edwards visited Crossroads Nov. 11. Students received training and practiced on mannequins, which are paid for by the grant.

  

“We teach students how to use these tools and how to teach others, and each time they teach it, it reinforces their memory,” Edwards said.

  

The grant, which was received from Wachovia Bank, pays for a CPR kit for every student who goes through the course. The kit includes a 20-minute instructional DVD and a mannequin for practice.

  

“Having a mannequin to practice on, it makes it more real, so that they’re not afraid to initiate CPR if an emergency should occur,” Edwards said.

  

About 84 percent of these type of emergencies happen at home, she added.

  

“I’m hoping each student will be able to teach at least one person in their home...it’s something you can pass on,” she said.

  

Edwards encouraged students at Crossroads to come visit her later in the month “and let me know how many people they taught.”