Florida bill would require high school students to learn CPR before graduation

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published:
CPR techniques. (Unsplash photo)
CPR techniques. (Credit: Unsplash)

Florida lawmakers want to help improve your odds in a life or death situation.

A bill making its way through the state legislature would require high school students learn CPR before they graduate.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the U.S., and sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death for student-athletes.

Currently, CPR training is encouraged but not mandatory.

HB 157 requires one hour of CPR training in grades nine and 11. It would be up to schools to decide how to incorporate the training in the school year.

People in favor of the bill say their lives were saved by teens who knew CPR.

More than 350,000 experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital each year in the U.S. Of those, more than 7,000 are children.

If passed, the bill would take effect July 1, in time for the first round of training to start in the Fall of 2021.

Florida would join 38 other states that already required hands-on CPR training for high school graduation.

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