On Thursday, March 26, members of Poly’s Heart Club attended the American Heart Association and LA Rams’ cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) training event at the Los Angeles Rams’ locker room in Sofi Stadium. Students learned how to perform hands-on CPR and received a complimentary CPR kit to help teach other students at school.
Empowering students with these skills drastically strengthens school safety as they are often immediate witnesses of on-campus emergencies. According to the American Heart Association, “If performed immediately, CPR can double or triple the chance of survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest.” This student-led preparedness is especially critical because K-12 faculty are not required to be CPR certified.
To help address this gap, Poly joined professional athletic trainers, faculty and high school students from the Los Angeles area. In a raffle, Poly also won two AEDs, which can restart the heart when someone goes into cardiac arrest.
Sophomore Mira Mavis is the founder and president of the Heart Club, a club aiming to teach students CPR and First Aid.
“Everyone was there for the same reason, and everybody knew a lot about this issue. It was just really nice to see another person teach and understand CPR so that we could bring it back to our own communities,” she stated.
“After coming in contact with a girl who almost needed CPR, and me not knowing it, I felt that if it were ever to happen again, I wanted to be able to step in,” shared freshman participant Talia Dilanchian. “So when I saw this opportunity, I was ecstatic to do it.”
Director of Health Services Hazel Diaz, Heart Club’s advisor, stated, “I am incredibly proud of our club members for their enthusiasm and dedication to learning life-saving skills.”
Heart Club members plan to use the resources and knowledge they learned at the event to host CPR training sessions for Poly students and eventually expand to the broader community, demonstrating their dedication to promoting heart awareness and education.
