PROBLEM
Injury has been the leading cause of morbidity and mortality for children over 1 year old. Heart disease significantly contributes to the mortality of United States (US) citizens. It has become clear that unless lifesaving skills included in the “chain of survival” including early recognition and access to appropriate emergency care, first aid, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), early defibrillation and early advanced care, there will be adverse patient outcomes from trauma and cardiovascular events. Children and adolescents trained in these skills are able to use them and become more socially responsible, however opportunities to train youth in lifesaving skills within educational curricula pose many challenges. Liaisons between schools and community safety networks increase the chance that people will call for appropriate help and reduce serious outcomes, however currently these relationships are limited. With recent terrorist activity in the US it becomes even more imperative that communities prepare for a skilled, knowledgeable emergency response from each of its citizens including youth. Early training will achieve the goal of preparing communities to deal with health emergencies for the individual, the school and the larger community.
GOALS & OBJECTIVES
(1) To increase the number of Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota youth who graduate from high school proficient in CPR, First Aid, AED, safety skills and knowledge. (2) To insure that the programs are offered using interactive, age appropriate, culturally competent, and current methods and curriculum. (3) To establish a community safety network that supports the delivery of these skills in schools and continued awareness and use of these skills in everyday life. (4) To support the implementation of an efficient Emergency Preparedness Plan in school districts.
METHODOLOGY
(1) Working with the EMS for Children leadership in each state, a series of BELSS educator training workshops will be completed using models of implementation that will be most efficient in each state including Native American schools. Participants will choose from tracks enabling them to train in skills most appropriate for their setting, grade level responsibility and personal skills. All participants will receive AED certification, interaction with community emergency responders and emergency preparedness training. There will also be an option to become instructors and receive university continuing education credit incentives. (2) Materials used will match the Basic Emergency Lifesaving Skills (BELS): A Framework for Teaching Emergency Lifesaving Skills to Children and Adolescents template and the National Standards for Health Education which have been reviewed and evaluated for match to the BELS template, to current effective teaching research, its accessibility and viability of use for schools in Wisconsin. (3) To establish a community safety network each workshop participant will receive a listing of key names and addresses of safety personnel and educational resources in their geographic areas each of which will be key players in the workshop. (4) Participants will also receive emergency preparedness training.
COORDINATION
The project will be led by the EMSC program in each state with technical assistance provided by the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. It will also be coordinated with partnerships within each state including EMS leadership, School Districts, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospitals, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Injury Prevention leadership, Comprehensive School Health Program, School Nurse Association, University and Technical College Health Education, Maternal and Child Health, Department of Public Instruction, National Children’s Safety Center for Rural and Agricultural Safety, Native American Populations, Community Emergency Care Providers, Emergency Management, Office of Rural Health and others as identified.
EVALUATION
Several levels of evaluation will be used. (1) Determination of demographics and number of participants trained to implement the program, will be followed by counts over the subsequent three years of the study including the number of students and community members trained as a result of this initiative. These numbers will be compared with numbers previously trained by the participating agencies in an equivalent time span. (2) A pre-test/post test format will be used to establish baselines of students of those trained in the BELSS workshop as compared to control schools who have not received the training. BELSS competence will be measured with the guidelines established for the National Health Education Standards. Pre/post testing will be completed.
ANNOTATION
KEYWORDS
AED (automated external defibrillator), BELS (Basic Emergency Lifesaving Skills), BELSS (Basic Emergency Lifesaving Skills in Schools), Community safety network, CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation), First Aid, Health Literacy Assessment, Risk Watch
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