BUSM PumpStart: New Service Learning Opportunity for Medical Students!
BUSM PumpStart is a student-led initiative to provide BUSM students the opportunity to teach hands-on didactic lessons of CPR to a population of local high school students, with the hope of inspiring younger students to pursue further healthcare involvement.
PumpStart aims to improve knowledge of CPR and increase exposure to healthcare careers among high school students. By targeting students at a younger age, we hope to empower them with vital and potentially life-saving education. PumpStart uses an established American Heart Association curriculum to give students the knowledge and skills they need to conduct CPR but does not offer CPR certifications.
PumpStart volunteers facilitate one hour CPR instructional sessions in Boston high schools. These sessions involve 20-30 high school students, and are structured around the Friends & Family Anytime CPR program from the American Heart Association. Volunteers show the video, reinforce the concepts of the video and demonstrate proper CPR technique. Volunteers break students into small groups and supervise hands-on practice on CPR manikins, making sure they understand how to properly perform the physical CPR technique.
Interested in joining PumpStart as a volunteer? Here are some things you should know:
- You will never be teaching alone – sessions will always be run by at least 2-3 PumpStart volunteers.
- You do not need any prior experience teaching or performing CPR.
- Your role involves providing fun and high quality education. You will be expected to know the material well and be able to answer questions the students have. This will all be reviewed at volunteer training sessions.
- As a volunteer, you have the opportunity to empower high school students with life-saving skills and to get them excited about medicine, EMS and the healthcare field in general. You will gain increased confidence in your own CPR knowledge/skills and in interacting with high school students about health-related topics.
For more information, please email busm.pumpstart@gmail.com