A senior at a Utah high school received a scholarship this month based on her idea for an automated CPR assistance device.
Kennedy Hall, of Cedar Valley High School in Eagle Mountain, Utah, came up with the idea for the device in the school’s Career and Technical Education pathway and was named the school’s nominee for the CTE Presidential Scholarship Award, the Daily Herald reported Nov. 12. She wants to get certified as an EMT and train to be a trauma surgeon—but those weren’t always her goals.
Hall’s parents both died of brain damage following heart events. Her dad passed after he collapsed and his heart stopped; her mom had a heart attack last year that, despite resuscitation, resulted in a lack of oxygen to the brain and ultimately killed her.
Hall’s ideal CPR device would be one that’s automated and fits over a victim’s nose and mouth, providing instructions for CPR while performing artificial breaths.
“Many people have the basic idea of CPR, but don’t know what they are going,” Hall told the Herald. “If a device like this had been made at the time, I am wondering how much of a difference it would have made for [my parents], if they would still be here, or how much of a bigger chance that they would have had.”
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.