Can We Raise a Generation That Doesn’t Hesitate?

Sep 28

2 min read

School is officially back in session, so we wanted to share a quick update on The CPR Ready Generation™ and some of what we’re seeing as the year gets underway.

A few early signs of momentum

Some of our Founding Schools are already getting out into their communities.

Saint Patrick High School recently brought The CPR Ready Generation™ to a football game, where students set up a table and talked with students and families.

Huntley High School took it outside of school and set up at a local farmers market.

And other schools are reaching out now, asking how they can get involved and working through what makes sense for their students.

It’s so great to see!

What we especially like is that it doesn’t look exactly the same everywhere.

That was always the idea: give students something they can own, give schools an easy way to support them, and see where they take it. We’re early in the movement of course, but these first few weeks are giving us a glimpse of what that can look like.

And it's pretty exciting! :)

One number worth knowing

The latest CARES annual report found that bystander CPR was performed in about 42% of eligible out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in 2024.

And when CPR was provided by a bystander, survival to hospital discharge was 13%, compared with 7.6% when it wasn’t.

Those numbers are a pretty good reminder of why this work matters.

We’ve made tremendous progress teaching people CPR. Great organizations are doing that work every day, and schools across the country are introducing young people to lifesaving skills.

But training is only part of the equation.

Someone still has to act.

That’s the piece we keep coming back to

How do we help young people not only know what to do, but have the confidence to step forward when it matters?

And how do we make that kind of readiness something students see in each other, talk about and eventually just consider normal?

That’s what we’re building.

October 16 is a good moment to remember why

World Restart a Heart Day is coming up on October 16.

It’s a day focused on something remarkably simple and important:

more people understanding that they can make a difference when someone experiences cardiac arrest.

We’d love to see this generation take that idea even further.

Not just more young people who have been taught CPR, but a generation that grows up believing: “Of course I would step in.”

We have a long way to go, but seeing students begin to carry this into their own schools and communities is a pretty good place to start.

We’ll keep sharing what we learn as more schools get involved.

And if there’s someone in your world who cares about CPR, education, young people, community health, or simply preparing the next generation to help when it matters, please forward this along.

We’d love to have them following the journey with us!

Thanks for being part of it!

The CPR Ready Generation Team

The CPR Ready Generation™

From trained to ready.

That's The CPR Ready Generation™.

Student-Led. Sponsored by WorldPoint & Defibtech.