This article was published in the Hawaii Catholic Herald in March 2017.

Last month was not just February, but it was also American Heart Month.  Currently, many students at Catholic schools across Hawaii have the opportunity to become CPR-certified, including students at St. John Vianney School.

Teacher Nicole Jones says that for one week, the 8^th graders researched and discussed heart health and learned how to perform CPR and how to accurately use an automated external defibrillator (AED. These students also taught the younger students, grade levels kindergarten through 4^th, how to perform CPR.

This program was made available through the American Heart Association, which awarded a grant to the Office of Hawaii Catholic Schools to obtain CPR Training Kits that would enable students to become CPR-certified.

“Our goal is to have every graduate from our schools leave us with confidence and ability to perform CPR.  We deeply appreciate their support in making this goal a reality,” said Superintendent Mike Rockers, thanking the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and the American Heart Association for their generosity.

Last year, 18 Hawaii Catholic Schools participated in Jump Rope for Heart and raised $75,257.00, ranking #2 in the state out of 10 districts.

Assistant Superintendent Lovey Ann DeRego says that this was one of the reasons that the American Heart Association gifted the Hawaii Catholic Schools community with CPR kits.

“They are overwhelmed with our participation in educating our students about heart health,” said DeRego.

The CPR in Schools Training Kit is a classroom-based program designed to teach the core skills of CPR in under 30 minutes. The kit contains everything needed to facilitate a CPR in Schools training class for 10 students at once. The process can be repeated to train an entire class, grade, or an entire school.

Rockers said he hopes that all 8th graders graduate from Hawaii Catholic Schools, trained in CPR.