81st CA Medics Provide Lifesaving Skills to Students

Article and Photos by Staff Sgt. Michael J. Dator, 85^th Civil Affairs Brigade Public Affairs

KILLEEN, Texas – You’re at your favorite restaurant with some friends and suddenly a man at the neighboring table grips at his chest. His frantic motions indicate that he’s in the throes
of a cardiac arrest. Do you know what to do in this situation? Some of the high school juniors and seniors from the Career and Technical Education Campus certainly do. 
               Civil Affairs medics assigned to the 81st Civil Affairs Battalion, 85th Civil Affairs Brigade, taught more than 30 health science students on proper cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques Feb. 9 at the CATE located in Killeen.
             “We taught students three different iterations of CPR today,” said Spc. Askia G. Whitaker, a civil affairs medical specialist assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters
Company, 81st CA Bn, 85th CA Bde. “Since each age group requires a different set of procedures, we taught classes on infant, child, and adult CPR techniques as well as how to properly maintain and operate an automated defibrillator.”
            CATE is an adopted school with the 85th CA Bde and is part of the Killeen Independent
School District. Civil affairs medics provide professional training to the students using practical classroom instruction, hands-on demonstrations, instructor led dialogues, and procedural testing exams using realistic training dummies.
             “It’s nice to see the Soldiers from the base come out here to help out with the training today,” said Aaron J. Whitaker, 17, a CATE junior enrolled in the Principles of Health Science program. “The class provided me with the skills to administer first assistance CPR if someone goes into cardiac arrest.”  After the classroom instruction, the students were tested on the techniques and procedures they learned throughout the day. Those that passed the exam were certified in CPR as per the standards of the American Heart Association.
            “The training today is critical to their learning as many of these students will be
moving on to the upper-level courses such as becoming a nurse aid or an emergency medical technician,” said Dynisha Woods, a registered nurse and health science teacher at the CATE. “It was really nice for the troops to come out and assist in furthering the education of these students – it was a real community effort to get these young people trained and I think that’s
phenomenal.”