Arizona high schools now required to teach students CPR

PHOENIX (FOX 10) - In this week's Community Cares, a simple breath or chest compression could be the difference between saving a life. But according to the latest statistics, less than 20 percent of Americans are equipped to perform CPR during a medical emergency. One local high school is working to change that.

These high school students might be learning their most important lesson yet, how to save a life.

"I think it was really helpful and it's like something a lot of schools should do, it's like really beneficial," said one student.

"It is a requirement this year that we train all high school students CPR," said Jennifer Sheneman, a nurse at Scottsdale Prep. "The requirement from the legislation was to only train hands-on CPR, but we thought it was so important to train them how to do the full CPR sequence including AED and choking."

Jennifer Sheneman, a nurse at Scottsdale Prep, says as of July 2019, each senior must pass a CPR course and every school must offer one.

"They will learn how to do chest compressions, rescue breaths, using an AED because most places have AED's now and they're great to have because as soon as you turn one on they talk you through the whole process," explained Sheneman.

"I think it's something that even if you know and you never get to use it, it's still like useful than like than not knowing at all," said one student.

Students who want can pay an extra fee and become CPR certified.