Winnebago principal’s personal experience inspires Illinois school’s cardiac safety law

WINNEBAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — This Fall, all schools in Illinois will be required to have a plan in place in the event of a cardiac arrest on school grounds. A Winnebago principal advocated for the law after it happened to her, and now her school is one of three Heart Safe Schools in the state.

“Anybody who enters our school, whether it be an employee, a child, or just a visitor, is safe. If a cardiac emergency occurs,” said Heather Baker, principal of Dorothy Simon Elementary School, at 309 S Benton Street.

Several years ago, Baker suffered a cardiac arrest at her prior school.

“My life was saved by my coworkers who did CPR,” she recalled. “So because of their training, they recognized that I was having a cardiac arrest, which is the most important step. They called 911 and they worked as a team to jump in and start CPR right away. But had they not had that training and talked about a plan previously, I wouldn’t be here today.”

The American Heart Association estimates that 23,000 children under the age of 18 experience a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital each year.

Baker initiated a plan at Dorothy Simon Elementary, and helped the Illinois legislature to pass HB 5394, the Safety Drill Cardiac Plan.

“I truly thought that this is something I was going to be begging our legislators for my entire life. So now that I’ve accomplished this goal, I’m ready to tackle the next goal for other survivors like me, for the parents who have lost their children at school to sudden cardiac arrest. We don’t want to see that happen anymore,” she said.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed the bill, making it mandatory for schools to have a cardiac arrest emergency plan in place by 2025.

Dorothy Simon Elementary’s training consists of showing staff how to perform CPR, and how to recognize the signs of someone experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest.

In the event of an emergency, people assume assigned roles: 911 caller, use of the Automated External Defibrillator (AED), and preparing for the arrival of paramedics.

Periodic drills are also held.

“I go over the loudspeaker and I say, ‘There’s a cardiac emergency on the playground,’ and our team jumps into action. We time it. See how long it takes us to respond. And then we debrief after and talk about what we can do better,” Baker said.

She also said that, while she is ecstatic to hear that every Illinois school will be required to undergo the mandatory training, she hopes youth sports teams, leagues, and other youth organizations will be lawfully required to undertake the training in the future.

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