Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

There are many ways to help save a life, and students at Thorsby High School will soon have an easier time learning one of those ways after receiving a grant for CPR mannequins and an AED trainer.

THS teacher Leighsa Robinson was recently informed that her health class was awarded a $1,300 Bright Ideas Grant from the Central Alabama Electric Cooperative.

“They were gracious enough to give us the grant, which was really needed,” Robinson said. “We do not get any state fee money for health, so it’s hard to come up with the money to get the things that we need.”

With the grant, THS will receive five CPR mannequins and one AED trainer that will provide real-time feedback to students.

At the moment, the school has only one mannequin available and it is older.

According to Robinson, adding more mannequins will allow more opportunities for her students to get comfortable with their CPR skills.

“It [older mannequin] serves the purpose, but we needed some more updated materials,” Robinson said. “While we’re training on one, you can have four other groups that are actually practicing.”

Robinson has been teaching health as a certified CPR instructor for 12 years.

She usually asks her students how many of them know somebody who has had a heart attack or stroke.

“I would say 97% of the kids raise their hands each time,” Robinson said. “My job is to teach them what to do until emergency personnel gets there.”

Robinson teaches between 25-35 students in her health class each semester. She has about 34 students in her life class, where she also teaches CPR.

The majority of the students are freshmen or sophomores in high school.

However, students will not be the only ones who will be able to reap the benefits of the new equipment.

“I use it to certify both teachers and coaches here,” Robinson said. “It’s going to enable me to have more hands-on materials to work with.”