Month: November 2014

CPR training in N.Y. high schools now law

High school students will need to be trained in CPR and learn how the use of automated defibrillators under legislation signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo-presidential-podium

The state Legislature approved the bill in June.

The American Heart Association and other groups urged Cuomo to sign it.

“By teaching students these critically important skills, we are giving them the tools to literally save lives,” Cuomo said in a statement. “I am proud to sign this bill into law because it is a common-sense way to improve the education of young New Yorkers and ultimately create a healthier and safer New York for all.”

The American Heart Association said about 400,000 people have heart attacks every year in the U.S. when they are not in the hospital, and only about 10 percent survive.

“Gov. Cuomo’s signature on this bill has the potential to make New York a safer state for all,” said Dan Moran, chairman of the state advocacy committee of the American Heart Association.

The law (S7096) requires the state Education Department to make recommendations to the Board of Regents to require high schools to train students in CPR and the use of automated defibrillators, also known as AEDs.

The department has 180 days to make its recommendations on how to establish the curriculum. The Board of Regents then has 60 days to act.

New York’s measure would make it the 19th state to require students learn CPR before graduation.

Parents across the state lobbied for the bill’s passage.

Audrey Linguanti of Spring Valley said she wanted the law in honor of her son, Vincent, a Ramsey, N.J., high school student who died in 2006 of an enlarged heart.

“Since then I have been working hard to pass the CPR in schools bill, in his memory,” Linguanti said in a statement.

“Gov. Cuomo’s signature on this bill is a good step toward saving so many lives – like Vincent wanted to when he joined the local fire department.”