Middle school students learn life-saving lessons

The Oak Harbor Fire Department is teaching middle school students how to save lives.

By Rachel Rosen • February 24, 2023 1:30 am

The Oak Harbor Fire Department is teaching middle school students how to save lives.

For the past few years, firefighters have visited North Whidbey Middle School once every trimester to teach CPR and first aid. The department is determined to teach every student in the school.

Health and Physical Education teacher Mary Ann Duhrkopf began the program after receiving a grant for several CPR dummies. Duhrkopf realized the importance of educating her students on what to do in an emergency situation.

“Lots of times people are just filming it, they’re not doing anything,” she said.

Firefighter Jake Tumblin taught students how to perform CPR and use a CPR kit after someone collapses and is unresponsive. He demonstrated how to elicit a response and see if the person is breathing. If not, Tumblin said to then call 911 and immediately start administering CPR.

“Public education is a big part of our department,” he said.

Duhrkopf said her students aren’t familiar with “Staying Alive” the song that has 120 beats per minutes – the same rate people should apply chest compressions when performing CPR. She played a Justin Timberlake song with the same beat instead that the kids were more familiar with.

Students don’t leave certified but with a better sense of how to react in emergency situations.

Middle schooler Parker Thompson said it was fun to learn the CPR technique and it was not what he expected from what he’d seen on TV. He said he would feel more confident helping someone who was unresponsive until first responders arrive.

Captain Craig Anderson demonstrated first aid tactics such as how to identify serious injuries on different parts of the body and how to stop bleeding. He said the most severe injuries he has seen in his career are not from gunshots or knife wounds but from household accidents that involve cuts from glass. He demonstrated to students how to kneel on a wound using their full body weight and how to use fabric, such as a T-shirt, to prevent blood loss.

Anderson said bystanders who know how to stop bleeding while waiting for first responders will save lives.

Recently, the school has extended the program. The goal is to have every student take the course once a year.

“We can make a difference when we capture them at this age,” Anderson said.

He said it can take firefighters 3 or 4 minutes to get into North Whidbey Middle School, which is across the street from the station, and that is a long time in an emergency situation.

“I don’t want people to just call 911, they need to know what to do,” he said.

Anderson said that while they’re teaching how to save lives, he hopes they’re also instilling a sense of community.

“To have a good community, that means we take care of one another,” he said.