Kids Can Save Lives
Precious Hearts was founded with a core mission to educate the community, with a unique interest to empower parents and children. Founder Grace Ghazarian, a Registered Nurse from California, was inspired by the many schools that began to implement the American Heart Association’s curriculum. Precious Hearts began approaching Nashville schools with this valuable empowering course. Elizabeth Flatt, a middle school student at the University School of Nashville, started on her own quest to change her school. Our paths crossed in January of 2011 with an inquiry from Elizabeth to have 150 middle school classmates CPR certified. Claire Flatt (no relation to Elizabeth), wanted to be the best babysitter in town. She was the youngest and brightest student in our Heartsaver CPR Certification Course. Read their stories…
Elizabeth’s Story
My name is Elizabeth Flatt, and I am an eighth grader at the University School of Nashville. I come from a family of six, and I am the oldest of four children. We love animals and the outdoors. I enjoy playing lacrosse, as well as participating in school activities such as Middle School theatre, quizbowl, and Latin Club. In the annual musical, I starred as Willy Wonka. Each year, eighth graders are expected to create and carry out a Change Project. As the name suggests, a change project is an idea that a student thinks up that will have a positive impact on the world. Students work on their projects from conception, through development, to implementation. A Change Project can be anything from getting a new vending machine in the school gym to having bicycle lanes put on the roads. For my project, I picked a topic that is very important to me: CPR certification, and marking of the AEDs, automatic external defibrillators, on school maps. About halfway through the year, and many phone calls into my project, I found myself in contact with Ms. Grace Ghazarian and the Precious Heart Organization. Thanks to her help, I am in the process of setting up an in-school CPR and AED certification class for 6th and 8th graders. Concurrently, I have also been working to get the AEDs marked on USN classroom maps. I hope that through this project students will get their CPR certification, and be able to quickly access the aides available to them, helping to create a safer, more prepared community within my school. Claire’s Story
My name is Claire. I’m eleven years old and going into sixth grade. I’ve always loved babies and children. So I went on a mission. I wanted to become a babysitter. Who says an eleven year old can’t be a babysitter? Well, apparently everyone. That didn’t stop me. I told my mom I wanted to be the best babysitter around. She said “Well, make it happen, show them how responsible and serious you are about babysitting. “ She knew I could do it. I just had to prove it to everyone else. So I took a babysitting class. After that I was a certified babysitter. Then I signed up for Precious Hearts infant and child CPR and choking class. My teacher’s name was Ms. Grace. I loved the class, it was very hands on and fun. I was the only child in the class, but Ms. Grace still believed I could do it just as well as the grown-ups. Now I’m certified in CPR and ready to save a life! Everyone I babysit for says although I’m the youngest I’m the best babysitter they have. Ok, its only two families, but the word will get out. This story goes to show that no matter how old, or how small you are, you can do anything if you believe you can. Precious Hearts believes. That’s why their mission is to teach children what to do in emergencies, because anyone can do anything!
Thanks for believing in me,
Claire
Hendersonville TN
**If…by any chance…you hear about “Claire the babysitter,” she got her training at Precious Hearts and is ready to babysit!
JOIN NASHVILLE’S LATEST STUDENT MOVEMENT
With the involvement of Parents and Phenomenal Students like Elizabeth, we can make CPR training a staple in every school. Children as young as 9 are capable of learning CPR. As a Pediatric Nurse, it breaks my heart to see a child in the hospital that did not receive proper attention in their first minutes of cardiac arrest. It only takes a little education to give each person the care they need in an emergency. Please team up with Precious Hearts to spread the word and
bring empowerment to children!
