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Show ' Ooer M. of" tort In: for Instruction In CM for oil MjO school students. letter to sier1nten0ents will serve os the cotoljrst to octivote pregrm In dipt schools ever the cot try. I iHort your concent Hopeful 1y, your open peer opo our Olstrlct lotoKhod 0 one other suff Mtor on eoch cob la yon r, every ninth prede receive the Instruction iwcMMqf Since our experience In the CM I would like to shore our enpoTf bo If you receive Inquiries &. A ptl i XSiSss:' 9 first envisioned Instruct1 end physlcol educetton toicH we ItornoO thet, the Map to ten pupils ore rvcoMen educotion teocher could full cliss. Our opproot to tench hen 1th end to He it Students c to Mao the well-bein- the CP qroB closs. for such certificate clots, Tragic cases end onethor to hevli tfut when oil ninth Minister CM, the Is repeated. One physical education teachers could take advantage of basic training courses readily available from the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross and similar organizations. The cost would be moderate, the gain in lives saved incalculable. The flood of letters of approval and commendation that have poured into PARADE represents all segments of the education and health communities superintendents, principals, teachers, students, doctors, nurses and concerned citizens at large. The American Association of School Administrators has endorsed our suggestion and urged all superintendents and boards of education to consider instituting CPR training in their school districts. Says Paul B. Salmon, the AASA's executive director, in a memorandum to all members: "PARADE has presented schools with a worthwhile challenge. Let's meet it." CPR courses already are underway in some areas. But, as emphasized in our Open Letter, we need a systematic, universal CPR program in which no schoolchild will be graduated without a working knowledge of this basic lifesaving technique. It's far too essential g to this nation's to be taught on a haphazard or halfway basis. odvontope ,;? wr- - Landslide for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: some of the letters endorsing proposal. Open Letter on Saving Heart Victims A Bio Vos Many have written of incidents in which a lack of knowledge of CPR has led to tragedy. A typical letter from Frances C. Jurkens of Honolulu reads: "When I was 16 years old, I found my father lying on the floor, the victim of a heaVt attack. I knew nothing to do so I called for my mother, who also knew nothing to do. We phoned the doctor, and he came as quickly as possible. By that time my father was dead. . . . Teenagers learn quickly. Surely we should be instructing them in CPR so that they will be able to use their knowledge if the need arises." Similarly, Jean McConahy, a hospital aide, writes from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio: : "Your Open Letter appeared the day after a girl died of a heart attack at a shower for a classmate. Had these young ladies known CPR, she would most likely be alive today. Doctors enthusiastic Doctors, nurses and hospital administrators are among the most enthusiastic. Says Susan Byrnes of Mount Wolf, Pa.: "I am a registered nurse with six years' experience in a busy emergency room. I have seen many adults and children die who might be alive today if someone who knew how to administer CPR had been at the scene." Linda Bass, an RN from Salisbury, Md., observes: "I find it qOite inconceivable that our high school students are not required to learn and be proficient at a skill so basic to the health of our country. I would like to see CPR mandated for high school graduation." A cross section of doctors shows medical endorsement for mandatory CPR instruction. Dr. Alan W. Ames of Portland, Ore. : "I am glad you came out with your Open Letter; it is just what we need." Dr. Raymond D. Bahr, director of the Coronary Care System o( St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore: "An excellent challenge . . . it will be greatly endorsed." Dr. John M. Packard, chairman of the CPR Emergency Cardiac Care Committee, Alabama Heart Association: "Timely and commendable Recent reports indicate that immediate CPR by bystanders to persons suffering cardiac arrest greatly increases the survival rate." And Dr. W. Gerald Austen, president of the American Heart Association, writes: "Your interest in CPR training has our full support and encouragement. If every student at the high school level could learn this basic technique, imagine how many jk I i? rS ,1 life-savi- lor psgs in tiifl SEtal by Jess Gorkin American people want Resuscitation (CPR) be to required of all high students. That is the overwhelming consensus expressed in response to PARADE'S Open Letter of Jan. 15, 1978, proposing that CPR instruction be made part of the curriculum and a requirement for graduation in U.S. high schools. The PARADE proposal noted that The 5, I? each year nearly 1 million Americans suffer heart attacks and of these nearly 650,000 die more than half of them before reaching a hospital or receiving medical treatment. Prompt application of CPR could have saved many of those lives. CPR's techniques, inh resuscitation cluding and external cardiac compression, are easily taught and quickly mastered. To prepare, high school health and f n life-supp- mouth-to-mout- arrest as part of a training course sponsored by American Heart Association. 12 iu u |