Grant helps teens train to save lives

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - An $18,000 grant from the McAllister Foundation has provided Lafayette Jefferson High School with life saving technology.

Some of the new resources include more mannequins for CPR practice and Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) machines that help people who are in cardiac arrest

That technology is helping students learn to save lives.

"I'm ready. I know it sounds weird, but I wait for things to happen because I know if I'm there someone's there who knows what to do. I can take action." said Queenetta Reese, a senior at Lafayette Jefferson.

That readiness to take action is exactly what students like Queennetta Reese are prepared for after taking an athletic training class. And now that Lafayette Jeff has received a grant future students will have even more resources to learn the life saving skills these students already have.

Jeff Clevenger, the Lafayette Jefferson Head Athletic Trainer, thinks the students are doing well with the AED machines.

"I think most of them are under the impression that it is very hard to do, and once we get into they understand it. It's really easy. It walks you right through and tell you exactly how to do it," said Clevenger.

Students seem to agree.

"The directions are there and it's easy to follow," said Reese.

"You just attach the pad, stay clear, and push the button," added Kyra Betts, another senior at Lafayette Jefferson.

Clevenger says the school now has 17 AED units, and no matter where the emergency happens an AED is less than 3 minutes away.

"If you can get the heart started again within 3 minutes the survival rate is really really high," said Clevenger.

Students say the increased number of AEDs is comforting.

"Just having them around is good," said Betts. "There's more people being certified through the class and everything so even we know how to use them now, and I think it really helps that we have them around the school in case of an emergency."