CPR could be a requirement for high school students to graduate
Missouri lawmakers are considering a bill that would require high school students to take a 30 minute CPR course before they can get their diploma.
House Bill 457 is sponsored by Representative Ron Hicks from St. Peters.
Students can take the class anytime in their four years of school.
The bill has been circulating in legislation since 2012. It wasn’t until last year lawmakers really made a push for it.
A 17-year-old girl visiting the Capitol went into cardiac arrest last year. It happened in front of the bill sponsor, Hicks, who revived her with CPR.
That’s when some representatives decided they needed to incorporate CPR class in Missouri schools.
“We haven’t had any opposition from the schools, it just doesn’t cost the school a dime and it requires at some point in their school career a thirty minute class for a very life saving tool,” said Representative Shane Roden, a bill sponsor.
“It’s a great thing for kids to have this wonderful tool because it also buys time for people like myself that were in the fire service and EMS to get there. It buys them an extra minute or extra time to get there with advanced life support,” said Roden.
The American Heart Association has been backing lawmakers with this bill for years now and a spokesman for the organization said they hope this year it finally passes.
