Emergency! MERT team to the field! Where’s the nearest AED? In past years, the student body’s knowledge of Greenhills’ safety measures and protocols has been limited. This year, Director of Information Technology Services Marissa Green hopes to combat this problem with a new rollout of safety initiatives beyond first aid kits.
“We decided to start increasing the number of AED (Automated External Defibrillator) devices that we have on campus,” said Green. “There will be a new one this spring out by the track outside, and another one between the 10th grade and 11th grade forums. Our goal is to ease access to people who might need it in a cardiac incident.”
These changes have been prompted not only by Green’s observations of the emergency response capabilities of Greenhills but a state mandate.
“Greenhills has made that a mandatory requirement for employment for many years,” said school nurse Christine Gajar. “It is also a state mandate that every student that graduates should have some form of CPR training and know how to use an AED.”
While these updates are intended to enhance safety, Green said she knows that if the student body isn’t educated on these new initiatives and how to properly utilize them in the event of an emergency, then these changes will be much less effective.
“If we have a spring tailgate, we could do a pop-up AED class.” Gajar said “Or not necessarily a class, but just a hands-on demonstration with how to use an AED so people know what to do in case of an emergency,” Gajar said.
Gajar also plans on working with the Wellness Department to help teach students in 10th grade health on how to properly use these safety measures.
“We’re beginning to think about training our students on AED usage,” said Green. “That will start with 10th grade health next year.”
CPR and AED training are just the beginning of a new 10th grade health curriculum. Previously, health was taught to 9th graders, but starting next year, the class will shift to 10th grade, with a new focus on real-world applications. Varsity cross country coach Katie Sims ‘11 is set to be one of the teachers leading the updated course.
“The reason the class got shifted to 10th grade is to help pull away from middle school,” said Sims “We’re shaping it so it’s having more of an individual focus on an area that students might have.”
Sims explains that the reason that 10th grade specifically was chosen for AED training was to differentiate between middle school and highschool health. The wellness department believed that previously, some of the same topics were covered in eighth grade and highschool classes.
“The reason we chose to shift AED training to 10th grade was to help pull away the difference between middle school health and upper school health,” said Sims. “When we had it in 9th grade, we seemed to be doing a lot of the same things that were done in 8th grade, so we just wanted to differentiate that a little bit. When you’re in 10th grade, you’re starting to let up some more of your interests.”
Topics such as resume writing, job interviews, and understanding public health will now be part of the course, ensuring students leave with skills they can apply in the real world. The new health class will introduce a more holistic approach to preparing students for life after high school.
“Our hope is that we can introduce students to the kind of field of medicine or the field of global health that you are interested in,” said Sims. “So whether that was looking at a career path that they’re interested in or an internship they might be interested in. Because if you look at global and public health, a lot of different things fall under that umbrella. So we want to help teach them life skills that when they do enter college or the workforce, they have those skills developed. And this can mean simply having an interview, writing a resume, or how to do CPR. We’re just trying to implement real-world scenarios into a health class.”
