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Tavares High Takes Active Approach to 'Heart Healthy' Month

Friday, March 4, 2011

To celebrate American Heart Month in February, 24 members of the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) chapter at Tavares High School successfully completed a CPR for Friends and Family class, which was led by Tavares High Health Science Instructor Colleen Carter, RN, MSN.

Students were taught how to correctly perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on adults and children, as well as how to properly handle choking emergencies.

According to the American Heart Association's website at www.heart.org:

. There is one death every 39 seconds directly related to cardiovascular disease. That is about 2,200 people each day.

. One in three American adults is believed to have one or more types of cardiovascular disease. That translates into 82 million people.

. Heart disease is the number one cause of death among women 20 years of age and older.

"With these sobering statistics, it is more important than ever to have as many people as possible trained in CPR," said Carlos Reyes, lead instructor for the Health Careers Academy at Tavares High and HOSA. "These students did a wonderful job learning the basics of CPR and were equipped with not only the knowhow, but the confidence to act in the event of an emergency requiring this type of life-saving intervention."