News & Events

Mission Heart Services and the NCCHW host CPR Olympics

May 10, 2012

Student teams from eight Western North Carolina high schools went head to head last week to demonstrate their CPR skills at North Carolina’s first-ever CPR Olympics at UNC Asheville  The event was a collaboration between Mission Heart Services and the North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness (NCCHW) to teach students across the region life-saving, compression-only CPR skills and empower them to take action during a cardiac emergency.

Students from T.C. Roberson High School, Reynolds High School, Tri-County Christian School, Madison County High School, Owen High School, Erwin High School, Asheville High School and Carolina Day High School participated in two competitions at the CPR Olympics. The Teaching CPR to Peers competition challenged students to develop a presentation using innovative and ingenious ways to teach compression-only CPR to their peers. Teams also demonstrated their emergency response skills during the Demonstration of Skills competition. Both competitions were judged by area paramedics, nurses and other healthcare professionals, the relays demonstrated high-quality CPR abilities & teamwork, the presentations were unbelievably creative and innovative.

Following the competitions, students enjoyed a heart healthy lunch, received “goody” bags, participation certificates and listened to a heartfelt  and personal story by one of the volunteers. The awards ceremony recognized the top three teams with gold, silver and bronze medals and gift cards to the top three schools.

A clip of the CPR Olympics on WLOS can be found at http://youtu.be/JTwGYNGQeMw