On Nov. 28, 20 Grade 12 students continuously performed CPR from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the Brampton, Ont., school.
"The month of November was CPR month, and I wanted to do something that would draw attention to CPR," said Lorna Connoy, the health care teacher who organized the event. "In the summer I came up with the idea of going for a Guinness World Record.
"It was an amazing day. In addition to my 20 students we had representatives from the Brampton paramedics, St. John's Ambulance, Peel Regional Police, Brampton Fire Department, as well as the school band involved,” said Connoy. “It became a full community event.”
Connoy had two experts in CPR on hand, a paramedic and a representative from St. John's Ambulance. They acted as witnesses for the record, as well as making sure the students performed the procedure correctly.
"The school did a great job following the world record criteria and I’m only a part of it,” said Brad Bowie, the paramedics' community specialist.
Connoy also had timekeepers on hand and the attempt was videotaped, with a visual clock counting down the seconds, minutes and hours.
"All of this has to be sent to the Guinness World Record where they will determine us as the official record holders,” said Connoy.
Bowie was impressed with the students' efforts.
“CPR is one of the most regular life saving things that we do as paramedics,” said Bowie.
"Students that were part of this event did an awesome job and it was one of the best events I’ve ever been to.”
Connoy stressed the importance of learning CPR for students.
"Generally speaking CPR is going to be performed on family members so it’s really important that we know what to do, and successfully,” said Connoy.
The students got right into what they were doing, she added.
"The room was electric, it never stopped,” Connoy said. “It was so exciting and was just a huge successful event.
"At our 11 hour 57 minute mark, all 20 students started to do CPR together and the gym was filled. The St. John's Ambulance started to clap for the rhythm of the students doing CPR and the whole gym joined along. It was really exciting. I was thrilled my students did such a great job. I was so proud of them because they worked hard and were so focussed, making it such an amazing accomplishment.”