SR0139 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0139 LRB102 13998 MST 19350 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Passed in 2014, PA 98-0632, also known as Lauren's Law, requires all Illinois high schools and secondary schools to teach CPR and AED instruction and training as part of their health curriculum; and

WHEREAS, The CPR and AED training must be incorporated into the health curriculum of a school, but it is not required to be within that specific course time; the law does not specify content, but both the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association require that content must cover lecture, demonstration, and practice; and

WHEREAS, Lauren's Law does not require mouth-to-mouth, mouth-to-facemask, or rescue breathing training but must include hands-on skill delivery; the instruction may be delivered in person, by video, online, by webinar, or by the reading of manuals; and

WHEREAS, Many schools do not have CPR or AED training as part of their curriculum, or they have the training on their syllabus but do not comply; currently, there are no consequences for non-compliance; and

WHEREAS, Untrained bystanders who witness cardiac arrest do not know how to respond to a cardiac emergency, which loses valuable response time; according to the American Heart Association, over 350,000 people die from out of hospital cardiac arrest each year; a person has a 10% chance of surviving an out of hospital cardiac arrest; early recognition of a cardiac arrest and immediate quality CPR is the link to survival; bystander CPR can increase survival by 2-3 times; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we strongly urge the Illinois State Board of Education to enforce compliance of Lauren's Law at all Illinois high schools and secondary schools and to encourage school districts to include the program as early as the 6th grade; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we strongly urge all public schools to become Heart Safe Schools by completing a Cardiac Emergency Response Plan (CERP); and be it further

RESOLVED, As part of the CERP, we urge schools to clearly identify school staff that have CPR and AED certification and offer non-certification CPR and AED training to other staff members; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be delivered to the Illinois State Board of Education.