WCS Bus Drivers Learn Life-Saving Skills

Published June 3, 2016

Dozens of Williamson County Schools bus drivers are spending their summer learning life-saving skills.

It’s part of the Heartsaver AED classes in which participants are trained to promptly recognize life-threatening emergencies, perform high quality chest compressions, deliver appropriate ventilations and provide early use of automatic external defibrillator (AED).

More than 60 WCS bus drivers took part in this week’s classes which were led by WCS school nurses Amy Morse and Terry Weingartner. Additional classes are scheduled throughout the summer.

“I enjoy teaching the bus drivers,” said Morse. “They are interested in the students and are concerned for their well-being. We have some bus drivers who used to be in the military or who worked as an EMT so they sometimes tell stories of when they performed CPR or the Heimlich maneuver.”

The class format combines video with real world scenarios and hands-on demonstration with mannequins to reinforce skills proficiency. The class includes adult, child and infant CPR. Certification is renewed every two years.

WCS has six district nurses who are certified instructors for the American Heart Association. Additional classes for all WCS staff will be offered beginning in August.