“A child at school had a seizure. I quickly responded by cradling her so her head was protected. Knowing she could hear me, I talked to her the entire time assuring her that all would be okay, she was safe, and I was with her. When she came out of the seizure, she was tired and sleepy. She told me she knew she was going to be okay because she could hear me comforting her during the seizure.”

“A student was in gym class when she started to have an asthma attack. She headed to the health room, where her inhaler was kept, and by the time she reached me, she was so short of breath she could barely open her mouth. Soon after, she stopped breathing and I started rescue breathing. By the time the paramedics arrived, the student was sitting up and breathing on her own. The paramedics told me that by doing the rescue breathing, the Albuterol in her inhaler was forced into her lungs, causing her to breathe again.”

These are the stories of school health responders, volunteers and paid staff members who provide basic care to children in local school health rooms. For the past 40 years, they have cared for kids with bumps and scrapes, bruises and the occasional emergency with staff support and training materials provided by the American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Now, thanks to the generosity of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, the Red Cross will be able to continue to provide training materials to the schools at no charge---free UPDATED materials.

Since 2001 when a committee revised the School Health materials, American Red Cross first aid and CPR techniques have been revised and updated based on the work of thousands of health care professionals. Now those revisions will be used to update the School Health Responder handbook and video, with the professional contributions of Steve Boettcher, owner of Boettcher Media Group.

“I am so excited to be working on this project with the Red Cross. Together, I know we will create a high quality training tool that will be invaluable to school health responders, who are so vital to the welfare of our community.”

Together, the handbook and video will be an important training tool and everyday resource for those serving in our school health rooms. The revised materials will contain new information and graphics suitable to today’s schools and children.

The updated materials are expected to arrive in the twenty schools currently enrolled in the School Health program in September 2008, in time for the new school year. In addition, free materials will also be introduced to other school districts interested in building their own school health programs.

Together, the Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin and Northwestern Mutual Foundation will ensure that our children receive first aid care for common ailments---playground scrapes, tummy aches or bad days---and prepare volunteers for the uncommon life-threatening emergencies.