Get Charged Up!

Sudden cardiac arrest is the #1 killer of student athletes and the leading cause of death on school campuses, though most schools are underprepared to respond to a cardiac emergency, in contrast to the ample time and resources invested in fire protection readiness.

Parent Heart Watch partnered with SHAPE America to implement Get Charged Up!, a program to empower health and physical educators to equip their schools with Cardiac Emergency Response Plans (CERP) to protect young hearts. Selected participants earned a free automated external defibrillator (AED) for their school when they worked internally to implement the five-step CERP.

2019 Program Highlight

Bishop McCort Catholic High School

Implementation:

CERP instructor demonstration
Implementing the school-wide Cardiac Emergency Response Drill

Our school held a Cardiac Emergency Drill so students as well as staff would know how to react in the case of a cardiac emergency. A cardiac response team was implemented, consisting of both staff and students. This team was trained in both CPR and AED usage and how to handle a cardiac emergency. A drill was held and the entire team knew what to do and how to handle the emergency. Also, the local ambulance service also reported to our emergency as if it was a real event.

Our faculty and staff are all certified in CPR/AED. Any of them would know how to react in the case of a cardiac emergency. Approximately 25% of our students are also certified in CPR/AED as we offer this class as an elective that they can take for credit. We were able to successfully simulate the drill, record it and time it for success.

In addition, we had a successful cardiac doctor come to a school wide assembly to educate students and staff on the importance of knowledge of cardiac arrest.

Outcomes:

During our cardiac drill, we had a running clock starting at the beginning of the event and ending when local EMS arrived. Our team performed CPR the entire duration, switching off every minute to prevent exhaustion on any one person. This went on for 11 minutes until the local ambulance service arrived to take over. 11 minutes of CPR can seem like hours. It showed our entire team how exhausting this can be on one person.

Our local news did a news story on our school obtaining "Heart Health" status. The news as well as the local newspaper were present during our school wide assembly.

Program Team:

Crimson Squad CERP team
Crimson Squad Bishop McCort Catholic HS Cardiac Emergency Response Team
  • Heather Newcomer
  • Steve Cotchen
  • Mike Bako
  • John Bradley
  • Molly Largent
I was so happy to be a part of Get Charged Up through SHAPE America and Parent Heart Watch.

Without these organizations, our school would have not been able to acquire an additional AED as well as become a Heart Safe School.

— Heather Newcomer, Health & Physical Education Teacher

2018-19 Participants

Jordan Blanchard
Mountain View High School (UT)

Christine Lacy
Chanhassen High School (MN)

Heather Newcomer
Bishop McCort Catholic High School (PA)

Bobby Williams
AcadeMir Charter School Middle (FL)

2017-18 School Participants

Washington Middle School (MT)

Nickajack Elementary School (GA)

AcadeMir Charter School West (FL)

Davis School District (UT)

Versailles Middle School (MO)

Get more information on Cardiac Emergency Response Plans and AEDs:
SHAPE America
Parent Heart Watch

 

Program Summary