STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman CHARLOTTE VANDERVALK
District 39 (Bergen)
Assemblyman ALBERT COUTINHO
District 29 (Essex and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Encourages boards of education to include CPR training as part of high school curriculum.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Assembly Resolution encouraging boards of education to include cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in the high school curriculum.
Whereas, Sudden cardiac death from coronary heart disease occurs over 680 times per day in the United States and the risk in adults is estimated to be 1 per 1,000 for adults 35 years of age and older; and
Whereas, Nationwide, only 5% of the estimated 250,000 people who suffer cardiac arrest in public places each year in the United States live long enough to reach a hospital, mostly because the emergency measures that could have saved their lives were not implemented in time; and
Whereas, In cities such as Seattle, Washington, where cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training is widespread and emergency medical services (EMS) response time to defibrillation is short, the survival rate for witnessed ventricular fibrillation (VF) is about 30%; and
Whereas, Conversely, in cities such as New York City, where few victims receive bystander CPR and time to EMS response and defibrillation is longer, survival from sudden VF cardiac arrest averages under 2%; and
Whereas, When combined with a timely response by emergency medical services, CPR can drastically increase a cardiac arrest victim's chance of survival; and
Whereas, Encouraging boards of education to include CPR training as part of the high school curriculum will provide students with crucial life-saving instruction and will drastically increase the safety of the State's citizens; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House encourages boards of education to include cardiopulmonary resuscitation training as part of the high school curriculum to increase the pool of persons knowledgeable about this crucial life-saving technique and thus significantly enhance the safety of all of the State's citizens.
2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and attested by the Clerk thereof, shall be transmitted to the State Board of Education to be disseminated to all public school district boards of education.
STATEMENT
This Assembly Resolution encourages boards of education to include cardiopulmonary resuscitation training as part of the high school curriculum. Nationwide, only 5% of the estimated 250,000 people who suffer cardiac arrest in public places each year in the United States live long enough to reach a hospital, mostly because the emergency measures that could have saved their lives were not implemented in time. When combined with a timely response by emergency medical services personnel, CPR can drastically increase a cardiac arrest victim's chance of survival. By providing CPR training to high school students, the pool of persons knowledgeable about this crucial life-saving treatment will be increased, thus enhancing the safety of all of the State's citizens.