A woman attending a recent rally in support of a bill that would make it mandatory for schools to teach students CPR said her husband wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the fact that her son was taught CPR in health class at Sand Creek Middle School.
The lobby of the Legislative Office building was packed Tuesday, June 3, with more than 100 supporters of the bill, including two from Colonie who know first-hand the life-saving impact that timely CPR can have.
Now almost 16 years old, Casey Stashenko learned how to perform CPR in his middle school health class when he was 13.
“Two years ago, Joel and I came home from work and were going to go out to dinner, and Joel wanted to take a 20-minute rest before he went out,” said his wife, Claudia Hutton. “I was going to watch TV with Casey, and I went into the room to get my iPad and Joel was collapsed on the bed. His skin was gray and he wasn’t breathing. It could not have been more than a minute from when he went into the bedroom to the time I went into the bedroom.”
Hutton said she dialed 911 and called for Casey to come into the room as she started to do CPR. Casey had been taught the hands-only technique just a couple of months before using equipment donated to the school from the American Heart Association.
“He saw that I wasn’t doing it right and said, ‘Get out of the way, you’re not doing it right. You’re going to kill him,’” said Hutton.
Hutton said Casey performed CPR for about 20 minutes while they were waiting for paramedics to arrive. She said their home’s location on Sand Creek Road allowed medics to get there quickly, but even when they arrived, Casey continued performing CPR.
“When they saw the good job Casey was doing, they said to keep it up and don’t break rhythm, and they didn’t take over for him until they were ready to take Joel out of the house,” Hutton said.
Joel spent 17 days in a coma at Albany Medical Center, but has recovered fully.
“He (Casey) wouldn’t have been able to do it if he hadn’t been taught, “said Hutton. “He wouldn’t have been taught if the American Heart Association hadn’t donated the equipment. When you think of all the schools the American Heart Association doesn’t have the funds to donate to, this (bill) really shouldn’t be all that difficult to get passed.”
The CPR in Schools bill introduced by Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, D- Long Beach, and Senator Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo, is in the Education Committee in the Senate, and on June 3, was voted out of the Assembly Education Committee and is in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.
Dr. Sulagna Mookherjee, a cardiologist at Albany Medical Center and a member of the Capital Region Advisory Board of the American Heart Association, said she can’t understand why the bill keeps being voted down.
“I don’t know why it’s been so hard to pass this bill. Every year, 424,000 suffer from cardiac arrest and only 10.4 percent survive,” said Mookherjee. “It’s the ultimate no-brainer. To know something that may take less than a sitcom — a half an hour sitcom or less — to learn how to save a life … I don’t know why it hasn’t passed.”
During the rally on June 3, the American Heart Association unveiled pictures in the lobby of the Legislative Office Building of people who have been affected by cardiac arrest or of someone who has used CPR to save a life. One of those banners is for cardiac arrest survivor and Colonie resident Joey Mendrick.
On April 16, 2012, Joey was pitching in a Little League Game in Colonie when he was hit in the chest by a line drive, causing commotio cordis. The quick actions of coaches and a Colonie police officer performing CPR until medics arrived saved Joey’s life.
“He’s in eighth grade and headed off to high school next year. In his middle school, they are doing it (teaching CPR) right now, which is nice. Most importantly, he was saved by CPR. Without it, he wouldn’t be here and he knows it,” said Joey’s mother Lauren Mendrick,
Joey’s brother is 4 years old and can already perform CPR.
“He’s got two younger sisters and a younger brother, and he’s taught them CPR. … So you really can learn at any age,” said Mendrick.