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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Lawmakers have sent to Gov. Phil Bryant a bill to require high school students to take a CPR course as part of their physical education requirements.
In addition to the cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, HB432 provides that students in grades 9-12 across the state also would be taught how to use automated external defibrillators.
The instructional courses, which would carry one-half credit toward graduation, would be developed by the American Red Cross or the American Heart Association.
"When you reach these students when they are in high school they will carry it with them all the rest of their lives, and it will probably carry over into their families also. Anything we can do to save anybody's life is good.
"People will be learning how to perform CPR in an appropriate manner. Once you learn something early on, it stays with you," Rep. Wanda Jennings, R-Southaven, told The Commercial Appeals (http://bit.ly/1gi2vIc ).
Once signed into law, Mississippi would become the 11th state to require CPR training in high school, according to the American Heart Association. Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama also require CPR training.
The American Heart Association offers a CPR school training kit that instructors could use in teaching the courses.
The heart association said the survival rate for victims of cardiac arrest doubles, and sometimes triples, when a bystander knows CPR.
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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com
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