Kentucky students learn healthy habits and lifesaving skills through Heart Association program
By Sydney St. Claire
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LEXINGTON, Kentucky (WLEX) — Kentucky students are learning more than healthy habits through a program designed to teach potentially lifesaving skills.
The American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge is a three-week program for students from pre-K through fifth grade. The program combines lessons on healthy living with training in skills such as Hands-Only CPR.
The American Heart Association says more than 350,000 people experience sudden cardiac arrest outside a hospital each year, including about 23,000 children.
Through the Kids Heart Challenge, students learn about healthy eating, sleep and physical activity. Families can also participate by learning Hands-Only CPR.
“Not only are students learning these healthy habits and skills, but their parents are able to also learn these life-saving skills, and then they become first responders in their own communities,” said Josie Bailey, School Engagement Director for the American Heart Association.
More than 200 Kentucky schools participated in the program last year, including about 50 schools in the Fayette County area.
Bailey said the program is available to schools across Kentucky, with the goal of creating more people who are prepared to respond during an emergency.
Schools can choose when to participate in the three-week Kids Heart Challenge.
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