Medical center teams up with Tempe schools to teach first aid

PHOENIX — A Phoenix-area medical center will begin offering lifesaving first aid training to nurses in the Tempe Union School District.

St. Luke’s Medical Center will instruct eight nurses as well as some teachers in the district on April 18 at Tempe High School.

With recent school tragedies, like the one in Parkland, Florida, nurses and teachers will become more prepared should a similar situation arise in a Valley school. 

“The goal is to train everybody in the community, including children of school age, to get them to be able to respond as bystanders during mass-casualty incidents, whether it be natural disaster or man-made disaster,” Elizabeth Waack, director of emergency services at St. Luke’s told Wrangler News.

The two-hour course included how to stop bleeding and how to perform hands-on cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

The class was part of an initiative created by the Department of Homeland Security and BleedingControl.org. More than 124,000 people have been trained so far.

“The safety of our students is our first priority and a comprehensive approach to school safety involves both prevention and response training,” said John Meza, director of district safety for the Tempe Union High School District.

St. Luke’s was offering the free course to the general community on the third Thursday of each month. Waack said that community groups can also request the course.