Students enrolled in the Emergency Medical Technician, or EMT, course at the St. Vrain Valley Career Elevation and Technology Center, or CETC, have taught over 300 district staff CPR training.
The program is guided by Karen Carr who has been a teacher for 29 years, seven within SVVSD, and a registered EMT for 26 years. Carr began the program five years ago.
Students can take the EMT test at the end of the program and immediately begin working on ambulances, Carr said. The course is run by the students who teach CPR and first aid skills to the adults in the district.
“They need to be able to interact with people, not their own age, to work with adults, to work on some of those soft skills; how do we present ourselves. For them it is a great opportunity,” Carr said.
The district’s Safety and Security team ensures that all district staff have the opportunity to learn CPR and other health training courses that ensure the health of students.
“One of the outreaches that we have as EMTs is prevention. Of course, we will take care of you, but wouldn’t it be cool if we didn’t have to,” Carr said. “We do a lot of prevention.”
The course is a hands-on approach to CPR and first aid that allows participants to practice the skills. Some participate in the course to refresh their skills while others need it to become certified through the American Heart Association.
Participants on Wednesday learned how to identify strokes and how to administer Narcan. They also learned that each high and middle school in the district has four doses of Narcan in the building and two in each elementary school. The doses are located throughout the building, including carried by a student resource officer.
They then broke out into groups and learned about bleeding, burns, seizures and choking before practicing CPR skills.
