Youth Heart Watch in Your School

The Youth Heart Watch (YHW) School Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Program is committed to making AEDs available to all children and adolescents.

In addition to implementing AEDs, the program offers cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and AED training assistance, and works toward eradicating sudden cardiac death through research, education, prevention and advocacy.

What Youth Heart Watch provides to schools

The School AED Program provides consultation with a skilled program coordinator to evaluate your school’s needs and help you create programs to educate staff and students about sudden cardiac arrest and the use of AEDs and CPR. The program coordinator will:

• Provide a manual with step-by-step instructions on how to start your own program, including forms and worksheets you can use in your school.
• Provide resources to help you train and educate staff and students about who may be at risk for sudden cardiac death and how to use AEDs and perform CPR.
• Help coordinate your program with the local emergency medical system (EMS).
• Help you select AEDs and find funding solutions for AEDs.
• Help you conduct mock sudden cardiac arrest drills.
• Put you in touch with other Youth Heart Watch school districts in your area.
• Provide prevention resources and information about maintaining a healthy lifestyle to further reduce risk factors and prevent sudden cardiac arrest.

The school's commitment

If you join, we ask that you:

• Implement your program based on the Youth Heart Watch model.
• Update the Youth Heart Watch coordinator on the progress of your program.
• Tell the Youth Heart Watch coordinator of any event in which the AED was used.
• Reference Youth Heart Watch and Project ADAM^® when talking or writing about your program.

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has begun to compile a database of Youth Heart Watch programs in the region and will track outcomes, so we must have a record of every event in which an AED was used.

Help Your Child's School Become Heart Safe

Learn how to refer your child’s school, sports organization or youth program to CHOP’s Youth Heart Watch Heart Safe School Program. Download our flyer.