The month of activities kicked off at SONHS and S.H.A.R.E with National Wear Red Day on February 2. Students and staff arrived that day wearing their best red outfits, bringing liveliness and color to the school. The creator and sponsor of Heart Awareness Month, The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), encouraged nursing schools to post about their festivities using the hashtag #OurHearts. SONHS and S.H.A.R.E. followed suit, sharing their fun looks on social media, and took it a step further by posting heart health tips around S.H.A.R.E. and the M. Christine Schwartz Center for Nursing and Health Studies, as well as on all their social media platforms.
Later in the month, Simulation Educator Tina Hayes and Simulation Technologist Camila Venegas set up simulation mannequins in the SONHS lobby, teaching students and staff who passed through how to properly deliver compressions and apply automated external defibrillator (AED) first aid. Other members of the S.H.A.R.E. team brought out a pair of airway management training mannequins, which allowed students to see how oxygen moves throughout the body before and after first aid is administered.
NHLBI created an American Heart Month Calendar, which outlined heart-healthy habits and routines people could learn to follow in support of American Heart Month and their own well-being. Making these heart health tips accessible to the public in a fun, lighthearted way aligns with SONHS’s mission of Education for Life, giving information to our community that empowers them to take charge of their own health.
“Events like these are beneficial for all to receive a refresher on the basics of CPR, first aid, and AED,” says Zuzer Calero, Executive Director, S.H.A.R.E. Business Operations. “We never know when we may need to use these skills to improve the outcome of a tragedy.” SONHS and S.H.A.R.E. faculty and staff were pleased to have contributed to the growth of knowledge and awareness during American Heart Month and are excited for similar opportunities to provide students with innovative ways to learn in the future!
