All 17 Coppell ISD campuses are now Project ADAM Heart Safe Schools

Every Coppell ISD campus is now a Heart Safe School. The district announced that all 17 of its campuses have earned the distinction, which recognizes schools that are ready to respond to a cardiac emergency.

The designation comes through Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam's Memory), a national nonprofit program that helps schools build CPR and AED programs. According to Coppell ISD, schools earn the designation by putting in place a sudden cardiac arrest program of awareness, training and emergency response that meets the requirements of the Heart Safe School Checklist.

The district got here one campus at a time. Canyon Ranch and Valley Ranch elementary schools earned Project ADAM status in 2020. Cottonwood Creek, Richard J. Lee, Mockingbird and Town Center elementary schools followed, with work led by school nurses Sandra Brenneman, Ameira Olayan, Meghan McClellan and Kristen Crenshaw. Coppell High School Ninth Grade Center was recognized later.

Coppell Student Media's coverage of the Ninth Grade Center shows what the work looks like inside a school. That campus has AEDs on site, staff trained in CPR and a written plan for cardiac emergencies. Each campus has a Medical Alert Team, which nurse Cristy Runyan described as a group of six to eight people, usually nurses, administrators and teachers. "If there's a cardiac emergency, the first responder activates our medical alert team and 911 while CPR begins immediately," Runyan told the student publication.

With all 17 campuses certified, students, staff and visitors at every school in the district can count on the same level of cardiac preparedness.

This story is based on reporting from Coppell ISD, with additional reporting from Coppell Student Media.