SHINNSTON, W.Va. – Lincoln High School is the first school in the state to receive a ‘Heart Safe School’ designation on Tuesday.

Heart Safe Schools Project designation works through a national organization, Project Adam, that designates schools as heart safe through preparation, preparedness, and proactive education of faculty and staff.

“So, what the school has decided to do is be prepared for sudden cardiac arrest on the campus whether it be a student, faculty, staff, or a visitor. And the way we do that is through having a robust AED program, and CPR training and an emergency medical response plan within the school,” said Dr. John Phillips, Medical Director of the West Virginia Heart Safe Schools Project and Pediatric Cardiologist and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology of WVU Medicine Children’s.

The American Heart Association released statistics that the average survival rate for an out-of-hospital child cardiac arrest in the United States in less than eight percent.

Heart Safe School’s designation is dedicated to developing campus-wide response and communication methods in case of cardiac emergencies.