As teacher Rick Keltner watched his Advanced Health students practice CPR on baby dummies, he understood the panic that would occur if something happened to his own child.

“Watching them in there, work on the baby, just thinking about, as a parent, how panicky you would be if your baby would not be breathing,” Keltner said. “To have people that can help other people, it’s just kind of a service that I give our students.”

Lily Slater from Ellis County EMS was brought in by Keltner to provide his students the service Kelter described.

“We wanted to offer the students a chance to get certified in CPR,” Kelter said. “We’ve got close to 30 students who will be certified in ways to help other people when they’re in trouble, and that’s a good thing.”

Keltner has done this before with a different school, Tipton High School. He taught a CPR class through an EMT workbook.

“It was the kind of deal where I had to self-teach and go through the workbook myself,” Keltner said. “I’ve never been certified to teach CPR. It’s something that could happen down the line.”

From watching instructional videos to practicing with baby dummies, the class leans how to perform this life-saving act. Slater said that it’s important for them to learn.

“These are the people that are out and about,” Slater said. “They are the ones who are most likely to see this. Parents, grandparents, the people they’re around, can go into cardiac arrest very quickly.”

19ibraun@usd489.com