JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon signed a bill Tuesday that will require public and charter schools from the 2017-18 school year onward to teach pupils CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.
“Basic first aid can sometimes be the difference between life and death,” Nixon said in a statement. “Making sure young people are familiar with CPR and the Heimlich maneuver is a prudent addition to their coursework in physical education.”
Rep. Ron Hicks, the House handler for Sen. Dan Brown’s SB 711, believes the bill could be a life-saving measure since more people will be capable of using these methods to provide immediate assistance to anyone choking or whose heart has stopped beating.
“I wanted to try to find something that will help people in our state for years way after I’m gone, something my kids could look back at, and I think this could be it,” Hicks said.
Hicks has wanted to get this bill into law since he saved a woman’s life at the Capitol whose heart had stopped beating after a seizure. Lauren Lutz, of Lutz’s BBQ fame, was helping her father, Burl, set up a buffet for a lobby day in the Capitol when she had a seizure and her heart stopped beating. Hicks sprang into action and began performing chest compressions. Eventually, Lutz sucked in a huge breath of air and her heart started again.
The two still stay connected more than two years later.
“We stay in touch because we both like to hunt and fish and be outdoors,” Hicks said.
A few days after the incident, the American Heart Association came to Hicks with the idea for the bill. He had not even realized that schoolchildren do not learn CPR. Since 2014, he has lobbied to get the bill passed, and he made it a big issue in the House this year.. The American Heart Association offered to pay for the equipment to get training dummies and other supplies into each of Missouri’s public and charter schools, effectively removing the fiscal note, which helped make it more feasible.
However, the bill likely made it to the finish line this year in part because he made a deal with House leadership to change his vote on paycheck protection to ensure the CPR bill made it to the governor’s desk.
He said in May, that he had no regrets about making that decision because more education could save more lives like Lauren’s.
And with the governor’s signature, he hopes it does just that.
“For me, the best part about it is, my last year in office, a bill I’ve worked on since I’ve been in office… it is something that means a lot to me closely, to be able to carry a bill of such magnitude that could possibly save thousands of lives for years to come,” Hicks said.
