Heart Association grant will help 17,000 Boston students learn CPR

BOSTON — More than 17,000 high school students in Boston will get hands-only CPR training thanks to a gift from the American Heart Association, the school district announced Thursday.

Hands-only CPR kits were given to Boston Public Schools so every high school student in the district could learn the life-saving technique.

The AHA chose to recognize BPS for implementing the hands-only curriculum and distributed more than 280 kits – worth more than $41,000 – to schools in the city.

In addition to the high school students, some eighth grade students will also be training as part of physical education classes in schools.

The AHA says more than 326,000 people experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital every year.

About 90 percent of those victims die, often because bystanders don’t know how to start CPR.

Hands-only CPR, which requires less training, has been shown to be as effective as conventional CPR in the first few minutes of a heart attack, the AHA said.

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Cox Media Group