CHICOPEE – Mayor Kos along with City and School officials announced that all high school freshmen in the City of Chicopee will receive CPR and AED training as part of the High School health curriculum, making Chicopee the first district in the state to do so.
During an event at Chicopee Comprehensive High School today students demonstrated the training students at Chicopee Comprehensive, Chicopee High School, and Chicopee Academy will receive.
“This is an exciting day for our City,” said Mayor Kos. “Students will receive the lifesaving training that not only will aid them in times of emergency but will also serve as a possible career builder and make them more cognizant of the needs of other people instead of being focused on themselves all the time.”
Mayor Kos received the support of the City Council who appropriated $30,000 into the City’s Health Department budget that allowed for the purchase of supplies to teach the training as well as professional development so that school staff could become certified instructors.
Also attending the event was Susan Canning Director of the KEVS Foundations. In 2011, Canning lost her son Kevin to sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 19. She managed to turn her grief into a way to positively impact others by creating KEVS Foundation in honor of her son. Canning raises awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, teaches CPR and AED classes and raises funds to help donate AEDs to local schools and fields including 3 to Chicopee Schools this year.
“I am so excited to have found another champion for this cause in Chicopee,” said Canning. “Chicopee has been great to work with and I am so thrilled to see this training take place.”
Kos added “The support of Superintendent Rege and the school department to get this going after being just and idea last April is a testament to their abilities.”
Students have already started to receive training and it will continue through the year. Within four years all students at each of the High Schools and the Academy will have had the CPR/AED training.