NFHS Releases Online CPR & AED Training Education Course

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (August 31, 2023) – The NFHS has more than 90 courses available through its online NFHS Learning Center, but perhaps none are more important and timely than its newest offering – CPR & AED Training.

In association with the Vanderbilt Youth Sports Health Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the NFHS, the national leader and advocate for high school athletics and performing arts programs, has produced this online course to help schools be more prepared for emergencies that arise.

The CPR & AED Training course highlights the importance of creating, implementing and maintaining an emergency action plan, along with identifying when a sudden cardiac arrest emergency is occurring. The course demonstrates what to do when someone collapses – calling 911 and managing the area, properly performing CPR and appropriate use of an AED.

“This course is an excellent resource not only for the interscholastic community, but for anyone looking for high-quality online CPR and AED training,” said Dan Schuster, NFHS director of educational services. “We are so fortunate to partner with the Vanderbilt Youth Sports Health Center and believe this course can help to create safer environments for interscholastic athletics and activities programs across the country.”

"We are thrilled and honored to partner with NFHS to help bring this life-saving training course to coaches, officials and administrators across the country,” said Dr. Alex B. Diamond, director of the Vanderbilt Youth Sports Health Center and a member of the NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. “Representing over 20 different pediatric specialties, our team of experts at the Vanderbilt Youth Sports Health Center recognizes that education-based athletics and activities provide students an unparalleled opportunity to learn important principles that can guide them the rest of their lives. Anything that we can do that contributes to more kids playing sports in a healthy, positive and safer environment is critical to our mission."

The creation of the CPR & AED Training course, which is available at a cost of $10 through the Learning Center, is the latest in the ongoing efforts of the NFHS to focus on the health and safety of the almost eight million participants in high school sports. In 2018 and 2019, through the NFHS Foundation, the NFHS equipped more than 1,100 schools with AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators).

Schools and state associations without an AED received the Phillips Onsite units, and other schools have been able to purchase units at a special price since that time. The AEDs were accompanied by a rescue kit, alarmed wall cabinet and carrying case to allow the AED to be transported outside the school setting.

Following the AED distribution, last year, through the NFHS Foundation, about 5,000 Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) devices were distributed to high schools across the country. High schools can use the thermometer’s reading to help determine if the weather is appropriate to hold outdoor activities.

The NFHS Learning Center offers a number of other courses focused on risk minimization, including four free courses: Concussion in Sports, Heat Illness Prevention, Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Concussion for Students. Combined, these four courses account for more than 13 million of the 20-plus million courses that have been delivered.

The NFHS Learning Center (www.NFHSLearn.com) was started in 2007 with two courses – Fundamentals of Coaching and First Aid, Health and Safety – and now includes 93 courses for coaches, officials, administrators, parents, students, performing arts educators and others.

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About the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)

The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities. The NFHS writes playing rules for 17 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,800 high schools and 12 million participants in high school activity programs, including more than 7.8 million in high school sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings; sanctions interstate events; offers online publications and services for high school coaches and officials; sponsors professional organizations for high school coaches, officials, speech and debate coaches, and music adjudicators; serves as the national source for interscholastic coach training; and serves as a national information resource of interscholastic athletics and activities. For more information, visit the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org.