Zach Diamond 0:03 Welcome to the Modern Classrooms Project podcast. Each week, we bring you discussions with educators on how they use blended, self paced and mastery based learning to better serve their students. We believe teachers learn best from each other. So this is our way of lifting up the voices of leaders and innovators in our community. This is the Modern Classrooms Project podcast. Toni Rose Deanon 0:28 Hello, and welcome to episode 153 of the Modern Classrooms Project podcast. My name is Toni Rose Deanon, she/they pronouns, a Community Engagement Manager at MCP, and I am joined by EMT, paramedic and cardio partners enterprise account manager, Michael. Michael Riggs 0:47 Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. Toni Rose Deanon 0:50 Yeah, it's so exciting to be in this space with you. And thank you so much for saying yes, the podcast before we get started, what is? Michael Riggs 0:59 What is bringing me joy? Well, I live in the southern part of the United States and cooler, wetter weather this morning at 90 degrees. It's been quite amazing. Toni Rose Deanon 1:10 Yes, and I'm in Washington State. And we've had heat this week, right? Like, our temperatures are up to like 90 degrees, which is wild for Washington State. So cooler weather is upon us, which is really exciting. So thank you for sharing that. So tell us a little bit more about who you are and how you learned about MCP. Michael Riggs 1:30 Well Toni, I have a long career in the field that I'm in for the first three or four years that I was a Marine Corps military policeman. Following that I was a fireman, paramedic. And so you can actually say that I was reactive to all different types of emergencies. In the first part of my career. The second part of my career, I have been involved with equipping organizations with life saving AEDs. And that's my passion. And that's why I'm here today with MCP to really talk about the value of an AED program for you and your listeners. Toni Rose Deanon 2:16 Yeah. And it's really interesting, given your background, right, like you were in the military, and then you're a fireman. So literally, this is a passion for you, right? And so now you've kind of shifted into having a program for schools, right. And so, as we get ready for the school year, educators are faced with big responsibilities and considerations, right every single year, honestly. And so we like to think we meaning like modern classrooms, and just educators in general like to think that we provide a physical space that is inviting and safe, right. And this is something where we talk about classroom environment, classroom setting, just the environment, space, the physical space of it, right. And so when we're thinking about an ad program, I know that you all reached out to me was like, hey, we'd love to have a conversation about this. And it was kind of like a last thing in my brain that I even like, considered or thought about, right. And so can you tell us more a little, a little bit more about an AED program? Like, what is that? What does that mean? Exactly? And why should educate. Michael Riggs 3:18 So let, let me give you a few examples of about an AED program. And before we go into it, let me give you a few facts, some facts that I think that will be very important, and actually impactful. We all know that in schools, you must have a fire extinguisher every 150 feet. And that's a requirement. We also know that in schools, you must have a fire drill regularly scheduled. So the students know what to do when the fire alarm goes off in the event of an emergency. Or the fact that most people don't know that there hasn't been a child that perished in a fire in a school in America since 1950. But when we look at sudden cardiac arrest, and see how prevalent it is, in the United States, six children Yes, six children died yesterday from sudden cardiac arrest. So the opportunity to build a program to equip organizations first with the confidence and the proficiency on how to respond to a sudden cardiac arrest of it is what an ad program is about. And that's why we're here today and every day to work with organizations to make sure they are rescue ready. Toni Rose Deanon 4:38 Whew! You are just dropping those facts. I had no idea. So thank you for sharing. Six children. I mean, Yeah, even when I was an educator, this was something that I didn't even consider. Because again, it's like one more thing that I have to consider. Right? But because it's just something that doesn't happen happen often doesn't mean that it's not going to happen ever right ate. And so six children that is wild to me these that. Yeah, I don't I don't have anything to say except that that's who. All right. So you kind of just covered like why this program is important for schools. And I know that like when I worked at an independent school that was like the last school that I worked at, we had to do an AED training. But I don't think I did that with any of the public schools that I worked at, or at least I'm not remembering it. Because I know that it was like a, I had to do like an online course. And then like an in person training for this ad training, right. And so what are some challenges that schools face when they want to implement a program like this in their schools? And how do you ensure that you're? Michael Riggs 5:46 You know that that is a great credit question, Toni, and as we work in 2023, one thing is that the awareness has greatly increased in 2023, due to some very famous sports figures that suffered sudden cardiac arrest, either while playing football or practicing basketball, and that's mainly Damar Hamlin, and Bronny LeBron, but those are just a couple that have occurred. When we talk about Americans that will suffer sudden cardiac arrest, that is 1000 people died yesterday from sudden cardiac arrest. So the programs that we put together is specific about an emergency preparedness plan. What do you do when the event occurs? Who does what? Who calls 911? Who goes to get the defibrillator? Who assesses the patient? Who begins cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR? And how is it done? Is it drilled as often as we have fire drills? Are? Is our team confident in the response? Are they proficient in this skill? And lastly, do they have a piece of equipment that is proven simple to save someone's life? So my company cardio partners, addresses that initiative from concept to deployment. And that's exactly our focus. And we work with organizations across the country, and schools across the country to ensure they're prepared in the event of an emergency. Toni Rose Deanon 7:33 And I guess we can kind of talk about this because I can already think about our listeners asking like, well, then how do we how do we get this program? Or like how do we know that this program exists? For us? This is something that we talk about we talk with our school leaders, or is it something that you know, we should be looking forward to in professional development? Because, you know, educators and and learners are coming back into the classroom? Is this something that educators should be asking their school leaders? Michael Riggs 8:01 Absolutely this this question is, are we equipped, are we prepared, but on another note, across the country, because of the increase of awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, states, counties, cities, and even on a federal level mandates have been legislated, have been approved, many states are now requiring AEDs in schools, and the definition of schools, some states define them as it's required as part of any athletic program. But other states are requiring an ad in every school. And the forward thinking are, we must have a three minute response time. And that means from the side of the incident to the ad, and back to the patient, can we get there. And that gives you a good idea of how many Aedes need you need for your facility. So to ensure your question, is, this should be top of mind for everyone currently, let's get prepared. Let's make sure our schools are ready to handle a medical emergency. And let's cut those numbers from six children per day down to zero. And that's our goal. Toni Rose Deanon 9:20 Yeah, I mean, even like now I'm thinking back, right? Like, fortunately, that did not happen in the 10 years that I was teaching. And at the same time, it just kind of like, makes me cringe a little that if it did happen, I wouldn't have known what to do or maybe I would have I don't know, but this is just something that's like, Hmm, okay, you're absolutely right. Like sudden cardiac arrest can happen. And I mean, you even bringing up the athletes as well, right? That really has like highlighted and spotlighted like sudden cardiac arrest because I think those just kind of happen like are there symptoms that we can like look out for is this just something that can just happen? Michael Riggs 9:57 Well, being an emergency medical professional, I can tell you that the symptoms are, are minimal and rare. But there are some. And that's something that I'm going to provide you with a link to some of the things that we need to be concerned about. But we're finding that other than athletes, that actually students are experiencing sudden cardiac arrest also, in fact, there's a video that's a popular video of a young lady in Frisco, Texas. She is a seventh grader. And the school surveillance video captures what I'm about to tell you. She's walking down the hall, the bell rings, and she realizes that she doesn't have her gym clothes with her, she becomes panic and try to get back to her locker. And in doing so, that panic caused her to experience sudden cardiac arrest, she collapsed to the floor. Again, all under school surveillance, a couple of her students rent for help. Help arrives, they immediately start CPR, the AED is deployed, a shock is delivered. And the young lady lives. It's an amazing event, unscripted of how a school should be prepared. And I'll be happy to provide you a link to that, to accompany this this podcast. Toni Rose Deanon 11:29 Yeah, no, thank you so much for that. And and I guess another question that I'm thinking about because like, again, coming from like an educators perspective, right. I'm like, Oh, my gosh, it's just again, one more thing that I have to put on my plate. It's another like online training or a course or whatever that I have to do. It's another role that I have to play. Um, how long do these these programs like? How long does your program take to be completed? Or like how do we know that folks are certified for it? Michael Riggs 11:57 Well, as far as training training for the first responders, and you know, as a fireman, paramedic, they're often called first responders, we're actually second responders. The first responder is in this situation would be the teacher, the administrative staff, to the student, you're the first responder where the second responder. So the training for the first responder would be simple CPR, AED training, it can be inclusive of first aid training. If the school has adopted a stop the bleed process or program, it would also include that and the training process could be anywhere from a two to four hours, depending on which method of training you would like there's there's three different ways we do it. One is a total of virtual training. Another one is a blended training. And the final training is where we instructors come to your facility on site and not only conduct the the, the curriculum, but also demonstrate the onset, hands on of using CPR in the life saving ad, which could include or should include, in my opinion, stop the bleed kits and how to use those appropriately. Toni Rose Deanon 13:16 Okay, because now I'm remembering when I was at this last school that I was at, it was it was a blended experience. So we had some videos to watch. And then we came together as a group to practice. And so that I think it took maybe like a day or like, they tell you a couple of hours, to watch the videos to just kind of get that basic understanding and then you go in person to practice and so okay, I also just really appreciate the fact that you just said like, the stakeholders, you know, people at school are actually like to school leaders and educators and leaders are learners are like the first responder, right? Because you are there in that moment. And, and now I'm thinking like, yeah, sudden cardiac arrest. That means that in right, it means that it happens all of a sudden. And so I really appreciate you teaching me all of this. And I and I also kind of wanted to touch back to what you said earlier about states having mandates now and and it's approved to have a DEA program in in the school building. Do you happen to know how many states have legalized it or mandated it? Michael Riggs 14:23 You know, I don't have the exact number but I can tell you it's in the upwards of almost 4040 states are mandating Aedes in their schools. And we're in there's also many of the states that are mandating are also funding it. And we're working with the independent Board of Education with each state to ensure that the the avenue for application for the funds is very clear, and we support them as much as we can. Toni Rose Deanon 14:58 Okay, that's really good to know. I definitely need to know like more number isn't like laws and all that good stuff. So when folks kind of just talk about like mandates, I just find that to be so interesting. I'd rather like learn from others and like doing my own research. So thank you for sharing that. And so before, like you said that it, you know, now it's being mandated, right. But before we haven't, there was no mandated approach at all for the ad program, so that it was kind of just like, folks just weren't trained, and the school environment? Michael Riggs 15:27 that that typically was the case, you know, 10-15 years ago, I think today that the concerns about being able to perform CPR and use an ad, it probably has landed on the responsibility for the gym teacher, or an athletic trainer, or someone in the athletic department of the school districts, but that has now expanded to teachers, nurses, and and beyond. And I think it's very important that we truly everyone is trained, and that one of the most amazing facts about CPR, and use of an ad, or a sudden cardiac arrest event is 70 7 0% of the events that we're discussing, occur at home. So you may be trained at school, you may be trained in your workplace, but the chances are, you're going to use this life saving skill on your significant other, your own child, your neighbor, someone in your community. And that's why I think training is absolutely important. In fact, I would make it a requirement for you to receive your driver's license for you to complete an accredited CPR AED training course. So you could also be a first responder if you choose to be. Toni Rose Deanon 16:56 I was just about to say that to like this skill is actually something that's transferable in all parts of our lives. Right? That just really resonated with me. So thank you so much for sharing that. Okay, so listeners, we're gonna take a quick break for an announcement. And when we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about AED and Michael's experiences. Toni Rose Deanon 17:18 Hey, MCP community, we have some exciting learning opportunities next week for you. We have our teacher leader gathering for all of our DMCEs and mentors on Monday, August 21, at 7pm. Eastern Time, check your email for the registration link, we may have some surprises for you. We also have a Q&A session on Wednesday, August 23, at 6pm. Eastern Time, join us to ask all your questions about unit zero and everything else MCP. The link for the Q&A is on the show notes. Make sure you register to get the recording if you can't make it. I hope to see you there. Toni Rose Deanon 17:53 All right. And now we're back with Michael. So I've kind of started the whole like as an educator, I see this as as kind of like one more thing on my plate, right? So this month for modern classroom actually focusing on embracing resistance. So it is basically like folks who resist something, it just means that there's a lot of emotions that go along with it. And so what kind of resistance Have you experienced when teaching about this program? And how did you navigate that pushback that you received? Michael Riggs 18:23 You know, that's a great question. And most of the time, any resistance I get about this program is just because they have they don't truly understand this, the program in in depth, and really what it has to offer. CPR training has totally changed from 15 - 20 years ago, when we perform 15 compressions and gave two breaths. Today, we no longer focus on giving mouth to mouth resuscitation, we focus on compressing the chest of the patient, no mouth, the mouth contact. And so there's a lot of people that have been concerned about mouth to mouth contact. So we that's been removed and found that we can be just as successful with hands only CPR. But education is truly the important thing when it comes to talking about a program like this. And the other part, I think it's very important. Knowing the knowledge and being able to perform these life saving skills are important, but at the same time, not requiring an employee to be a first responder if they choose not to and didn't have the skills one and two require as another but I can tell you in my 24 years of working as a first responder, or second responder, as I said, when people possess the skills and they're faced with an emergency, they utilize the skills and the day out in resistance that they may have had previously, is no longer an issue. Toni Rose Deanon 20:05 it's actually a really good point to that you bring up of just like, hey, like you have the skill, but then you also have the choice to be a first responder or not, because I can just kind of see myself like freezing, right? Because, you know, sometimes that happens to folks. And so if I'm frozen, but then like, the person next to me is, you know, trained and skilled at it, then they can jump in, because I know that that sometimes more times happens than we want, right. And so I completely agree with what you said about resistance. It's all about just like not knowing, right, the uncertainty of it, there's a lot of education that needs to happen. And I also just really appreciate the fact that you, you know, you kind of just named the fact that things are shifting, right. So the whole challenge of doing the math to mouth, like a lot of people kind of, are just very hesitant about that practice. And so things have been created to where you don't have to do mouth to mouth anymore. And there's also those barriers now where you can still like, give those breaths but with but without like having to touch lips, if that makes sense. And so, and this is just something really good to keep in mind, too of like, a lot of things that we know, are shifting. And so a lot of things that we know are also like being updated. And, and so these are just things to just kind of keep us in the loop. And also, like, get us even more prepared with like embracing change. And so that I just really appreciate you stating all of that. So, then Michael, like, what do you hope to see in the future? And what goals do you have as far as this program is concerned? Michael Riggs 21:44 Well, that's, that's very interesting. You know, we talked about fire extinguishers in the fire extinguisher training and how, because of that training, no children have been lost in over seven years in a school. So I would like to take this same position, about sudden cardiac arrest, and place Aedes in prominent locations, where students, staff and and teachers actually can see and recognize the ad where it is. And they can also feel comfortable in responding, they can definitely be part of the solution. And if you would, I'd like just give you a scenario. Let's say, Tony, you and I are in one of one of your schools. And I collapse, and I'm experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, you run and grab someone call 911. And there's not an ad. Do you know the typical response for AMS in the United States average time is 13 minutes. So let me tell you clinically, what occurs when someone is not breathing, the heart's not beating at four minutes, whether you're a kindergartener, and five years old, or you're an adult at 50 years old, at four minutes, your brain begins to die at 10 minutes, without medical intervention, including CPR, the use of an ad, you are now clinically brain dead. In other words, you're not neurologically intact, and you will not be successfully resuscitated. That's why this program is absolutely imperative that it be adopted by organizations, schools, companies, retailers, across the country. In fact, we see places throughout the country, putting AEDs in public access in areas where people congregate. So this equipment is available to save a life. Toni Rose Deanon 23:51 Yeah, again, those numbers are mind blowing, did not know had no idea. So again, thank you for teaching me and that's a really great goal to have as well. Like you said, with the fire drills, it really has helped save lives, right. And so for our listeners, I know that this is a very serious and kind of like a downs topic. And that's, that's okay, right. And so feel all the emotions that you have. And also knowing that like we are just here to provide this like, safe space for our students and to be able to just help as much as we can. Right. And I know that Mike also reiterated that, even though you are skilled and trained at this doesn't necessarily mean that you choose to be a first responder based on whatever kind of reaction you might have. If something like this were to ever happen, and hopefully it doesn't. But just knowing that you have the skills and the training for it definitely kind of alleviates a lot of stress, right? And so this is not meant to add on to any of the stressors as you get back to school. This is just a hey, let's talk about it. Here's some information the more you know that better we'll do right. There's just kind of like the the end goal of educating our listeners and educating you all and, and just kind of making sure that we're having this conversation also. Right. And so Michael, like how can educators bring this up to their school leaders if it's not available already? And then, and then, of course, kind of like, you know, aligning with the two is like, how can our listeners connect with you if they have more questions? Michael Riggs 25:24 Toni, again, those are great questions. And, you know, this podcast, we've talked about sudden cardiac arrest and a lot of the facts and the people that lose their lives, but in one sense, we created a problem. But in the other sense, I want to create a solution. And the solution is simple. The solution is develop a program that makes sense for each and every school, develop an emergency action plan. So when something happens, people respond with precision, much like the NFL did on January 2, with Mr. Hamlin. within one minute CPR had had started in with in a minute and a half an ad delivered a life saving shock to him. We can create programs for every school in this country, be it private, public charter, whatever, I will work with them, and provide them with the written program, make sure that they feel confident and demonstrate their proficiency in the life saving skills. And with any AED on the market today, cardio department is slow leading distributor of AEDs in North America, we would be honored to partner with you. The best way to reach me would be via my email address, which my card is going to be supplied. If anyone would like to email me, audibly. My email address is Michael dot Riggs, r i g g s. At cardio partners.com. You can also reach me directly my cell phone number at 985-788-4531. We've also developed a very interesting program that we'd like to extend to all modern classroom listeners. And if you go to our website, AED superstore.com Once again, AED superstore.com and use promotional code M c p 10. Again, M cp 10 You'll get a 10% discount on any product or service that we offer. Yeah, in honor of your listenership and being a part of this podcast. Toni Rose Deanon 27:52 Yeah, thank you so much for that Michael. And also listeners, it's MCP and then one zero, not that t e n but MCP one zero. So just wanted to clarify that. But hopefully you get some listeners calling and reaching out to you, Michael, because I think this is a really important conversation that needs to have needs to be had. Right. And so with that being said, thank you so much for your time and energy today, Michael, listeners remember, you can always email us at podcast@modernclassrooms.org. And you can find the show notes for this episode at podcast.modernclassrooms.org/153. We'll have this episode's transcript uploaded by Friday, so be sure to check back to access those. Thank you all for listening. Have a great week and we'll be back next Sunday. Thank you, Michael. Michael Riggs 28:35 Thank you. Zach Diamond 28:40 Thank you so much for listening. You can find links to topics and tools we discussed in our show notes for this episode. And remember, you can learn more about our work at www.modernclassrooms.org And you can learn the essentials of our muddle through our free course at learn.modernclassrooms.org. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @modernclassproj. That's PR O J. We are so appreciative of all you do for students in schools. Have a great week and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of the Modern Classrooms Project podcast.