RPA students learn how to save lives in Community Health classes

This year, approximately 140 Redmond Proficiency Academy (RPA) students have learned adult and pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), automated external defibrillator (AED) and first aid as part of the charter school’s Community Health course.  

First aid skills have been taught at RPA since they opened their doors in 2009, and most students who graduate from RPA have been through the class.  

“I love teaching students skills that they can use to better our community and make the community a safer place, said Tamara Bremont, RPA health instructor. “Every few weeks I have a student contact me and say that they used what I taught them in class to help someone else.”  

In 2015 SB 79 was passed in Oregon that requires every school district to include instruction in CPR and the use of AEDs as an integral part of the health education curriculum for students in grades seven through twelve.

Bremont has been a Red Cross instructor for more than a decade and students who take Community Health have the opportunity to become certified in CPR/AED/First Aid as well as bloodborne pathogens if they meet all of the requirements for certification. 

“We’ve had a few students save choking siblings, other students have saved people when they witnessed motor vehicle accidents, and some students have helped individuals experiencing seizures,” Bremont said. “Community Health is an important class for our students and one they can use to improve the community around them for the rest of their lives.”