Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois Awards Grant to Train Children

SALF, October 14, 2004

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois' Community Affairs Advisory Board awarded Save A Life Foundation (SALF) $10,000 to provide basic Life Supporting First Aid (LSFA) training to nearly 1,000 Chicago Public School students.

SALF will target the training on a core group of students in Chicago Public School High Schools with special needs, primarily concentrating on those in ethnically diverse areas. The courses will be subdivided into two separate presentations based on the child's grade level. The first, a half-hour class targeted to students, grades K-2nd, will focus primarily on the recognition of an emergency, the notification of an EMS professional and some other basic first aid concepts, while the latter, a one-hour class presented to students, grades 3rd-7th, will cover the Heimlich maneuver and rescue breathing, as well as a recap of the points hit during the initial presentation.

In order to enhance the message and improve the visibility of the EMS within the community, professional paramedics will teach each assigned class.  Also, as a service to the community and an indicator of the importance of LSFA education, paramedics will be instructing the programs as a free-of-charge service to all local schools, within the applicable area, that are interested in further educating themselves and their students in the potentially live-saving abilities of LSFA training.

"Blue Cross Blue Shield has been a partner of both SALF and the Chicago Public Schools for a number of years. Blue Cross Blue Shield President Ray McCaskey's leadership and commitment to the school children and SALF through this initiative will educate, empower and no doubt save lives," said SALF Communications Director Dane Neal.