Ewing Middle faculty members take CPR, defibrillator training
By SCOTT POWELL Ledger Staff Writer spowell@gaffneyledger.com

Ewing Middle School Principal Denise Wooten isn't taking any chances after a fellow administrator's school had a frightening experience with lightning.

Wooten had 44 faculty members receive training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques and the use of life-saving devices called automated external defibrillators (AEDs) during an after-school session Nov. 15.

An AED is a portable automatic device that can be used to treat a person who has gone into cardiac arrest. The AED device delivers an electric shock to restore a normal heartbeat to a stopped heart.

Schools have become desirable locations for AED devices because afterschool activities such as sporting events often draw large crowds.

"The AED training will help make our school safer," Wooten said.

Wooten cited the recent experience of a friend from Clemson University who now works as an administrator at Oakwood Preparatory School in Spartanburg.

On Aug. 29, a day before his 18th birthday, Oakwood Preparatory School senior Alexander Holland Holbein was killed by a lightning bolt while at soccer practice. The lightning strike caused the school's soccer coach Tim Blakeney to go into cardiac arrest.

Blakeney was among several Oakwood faculty who had gone through CPR and AED training just two weeks before the incident occurred.

Ewing Middle has not had to use its AED device in the three years it has been located in the school, Wooten said.

"My friend at Oakwood Prepatory told me over the phone that she was so glad her faculty had gone through the AED training," Wooten said. "Our faculty and staff need to be properly trained so they will be able to respond in an emergency situation if something were to ever happen at our school."

The heart center at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center started an AED project in 2003 to outfit all schools in Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union counties with at least one of the portable AED devices.

Ewing Middle and every secondary school in Cherokee County has at least one of the portable AED devices. Gaffney High has two AED devices - one in the school's gym and another in the nurse's station.

Gaffney High School Assistant Principal David Smith said ideally the school should have 10 AED units to adequately cover the 250,000- square-foot building. A new ninth grade addition will add more space to the high school when it is finished next summer.

Many of the school's faculty was trained three years ago in how to use the AED devices.

"An AED device is easy to use. It's like riding a bike," Smith said. "Once you learn, you don't forget. An AED is a great life-saving machine to have available in the school in case of an emergency."