Bill Calls for Mandatory High School CPR Classes in New Mexico

Dec. 24--New Mexico could become the 27th state to require high school students to learn lifesaving cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills before they graduate.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, has filed Senate Bill 1, requiring high school students to take a half-credit course in administering CPR, first aid and the use of an automated external defibrillator.

In return, students would take one less half-credit elective class. Students who earn CPR credit outside of school would not be required to take the class.

"If it prevents one person from dying, it's well worth it," Sanchez said by phone Wednesday.

Sanchez said the family of Jonathan Madrid, a Belen High School senior who died after a bicycle accident, encouraged him to file the bill, which Sanchez calls "Jonathan's Bill."

Sanchez said some of Madrid's teenage friends were with him when he fell off his bike and became unconscious, but none of them knew how to perform first aid or CPR.

"His family feels very strongly that if the young people around him had known how to do CPR, their son might be with them today, and I agree with that," Sanchez said.

Two other lawmakers -- Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, and Rep. Conrad James, R-Albuquerque -- filed companion bills asking the state Public Education Department to make an appropriation of $100,000 to provide CPR training, defibrillator instruction and related materials to high school students. But those bills do not mandate that the class be required for graduation.

Speaking by phone Wednesday, Morales said he is working with James on pushing the bills forward because so many athletic activities take place in schools, leading to the potential for medical emergencies.

As a former educator and sports coach, Morales said, he can recall times when "I personally encountered a situation when we would see a student go down, and you never know when you are going to be put in that situation to try to help.

"We want to provide as many resources to students to offer that training. It can be lifesaving," he added.

He said he is aware of Sanchez's bill and likes the idea of requiring CPR and first-aid classes as graduation requirements.

"Ultimately, maybe we can have a discussion about compiling the bills," Morales said.

Erin Hackett, government relations director for the Colorado and New Mexico branches of the American Heart Association, said by phone Tuesday, "We are super supportive of students knowing CPR. Compressions alone can save lives if someone goes down right in front of you, it's so important to have proper knowledge of performing compressions."

The American Heart Association reports that 38 people suffer cardiac arrest every hour, not including patients who who suffer heart attacks while in a hospital, and 9 out of 10 of them die.

New York was the most recent of 26 states to mandate first-aid and CPR courses for high school students before they graduate.

How New Mexico's Public Education Department will respond to the bills is unclear. Department spokesman Robert McEntyre said Tuesday that the department "will review the proposed legislation and provide analyses to the legislature in the near future."

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.

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