This school year, Chesterton High School (CHS) made the honorable feat of becoming Project ADAM certified on August 23rd of this year. Project ADAM is a program to ensure the safety and security of students, faculty, and members of the community. It was started by the family of a student in Wisconsin who passed away due to cardiac arrest and the lack of quick access to an AED. The goal of Project ADAM is to ensure AEDs are accessible in every part of the building and to equip staff with the correct training needed to assist in a medical emergency. The acronym itself stands for “Automatic Defibrillation in Adam’s Memory.”
In order to become heart-safe certified, the school had to complete every requirement on the Project ADAM checklist. This includes not only having AEDs in the building but also providing staff training, creating plans, and performing drills once a year. Chesterton High School has also taken action to add more AED signs in the halls.
“It makes us more aware of recognizing signs and symptoms of cardiac arrest. It makes us more cognizant of knowing what to do if we witness something happen,” explained Brittany Smith, a nurse at Chesterton High School.
Smith went on to explain that CHS has experienced emergency cardiac situations before. She is confident that being Project ADAM certified creates more awareness within the student body and thus, makes the building a safer place during cardiac arrest situations.
“We’ve had visitors, we’ve had students have cardiac arrest here at the school. So the more exposure, the more people become comfortable with it, the more people know what to do in certain situations,” Smith stated.
The nurses and staff here at CHS work incredibly hard to keep everyone that they are able to, safe. This certification is well-deserved for their hard work and dedication to keeping Chesterton safe. It also gives peace of mind to the community. Knowing that help is just a few steps away allows parents to trust that their children are in safe hands. Ms. Smith also lives in the Duneland community, so her perspective extends to a parent, as well as a school nurse.
“I live in Chesterton, my kids go to Duneland schools. So I think it’s important that…we have things here that protect our staff, our kids…If something were to happen to somebody here we would need to know what to do,” says Smith.
Smith knows what it’s like to be a mother and to always want the best for her children, which includes ensuring that they are safe at all times. Not only when they are under her care, but also when they are at school. With this new Project ADAM certification, the staff at CHS and Adam’s family are ensuring that no one will have to worry about a lack of essential equipment and training to save their child’s life.
Regarding Project ADAM itself, it works to ensure the heart safety of sports programs, schools, and communities. Heart health is important for any type of person to worry about. Adam was a strong young man who exercised often and participated in multiple sports. There is no option of low risk for cardiac arrest. Even the healthiest individuals are still at average risk for heart complications. It is up to each person to educate themselves on the proper procedure and warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest.
“Early and effective CPR has been demonstrated to double or triple the chance of SCA [Sudden Cardiac Arrest] survival,” states ProjectADAM.com.
This makes the first few minutes of action essential to jump up and help to save somebody’s life. The best way to help and honor Adam’s memory is to stay informed on how to administer CPR and to make sure there are trained professionals and AEDs on hand in the community. Chesterton High School hopes that getting this certification will influence communities in the surrounding areas to become certified as well. They also have also begun the process of getting the intermediate and middle school certified. Due to the importance of being a safe and cautious school, there were no obstacles when getting certified; it was very smooth sailing. All the staff agreed on how essential to the safety of the community it was to not only be able to say they are certified but to actually be able to save a life in the event of an emergency.
“Everyone was pretty responsive to it. They were supportive about it. They agreed…It’s super beneficial for the staff to have it here and the visitors [as well],” Smith concluded.
Friday, August 23 was a momentous occasion and a very proud moment for the students and staff of CHS. The hard work that staff put forth to make their community safe finally paid off. Students can take pride in the fact that they go to a school that cares about the well-being of themselves and others.
