Illinois Wesleyan Students to Instruct Local Children in First Aid

March 25, 2003

Twenty-four Illinois Wesleyan University students will learn basic first-aid training on Saturday, April 5, as part of an effort to encourage Bloomington-Normal elementary school children to feel more confident in and react appropriately in emergency situations.

The American Red Cross and Illinois Wesleyan University’s Career Center worked together in planning the eight-hour training session for IWU students that will take place in the Shirk Center classrooms, 302 Emerson St., Bloomington.

During the week of April 7, Illinois Wesleyan students – mostly biology, chemistry, nursing, and education majors – who participated in the first training session, will travel to Parkside, Oakdale, and Fairview elementary schools to teach fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders the same first-aid skills. Skills included in this instruction will be rescue breathing and the abdominal thrust. “The goal here is to provide an opportunity to link Illinois Wesleyan students to community students in a way that is beneficial,” said IWU career counselor Robyn Walter.

The first-aid training was planned because Illinois Wesleyan and the Red Cross were interested in working together on a project to help community children. “This program is new and still evolving, but I appreciate the collaboration with Illinois Wesleyan and hope that such an event continues in the future,” said Michelle Brown, director of Health, Safety, and Community Services at the American Red Cross.

The Illinois Campus Compact, an organization that works with 32 statewide colleges and universities to increase community service on campuses, will also sponsor the training. The organization issued a Student Citizen Fellowship Grant to the University that will pay for the morning training session. The Red Cross will provide training for the afternoon session, and will donate materials and equipment for the event.

This service project is also part of Illinois Wesleyan’s Volunteer Weekend, Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5. For more information, contact Brian Jurinek, IWU senior student organizer, or Robyn Walter, at the Career Center, 309/556-3071.