Christine Jordan Sexton
The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a bill requiring 911 public safety operators to complete telecommunicator cardiopulmonary resuscitation training every two years.
Filed by Sen. Danny Burgess, SB 890 is now ready for full Senate consideration. Its counterpart (HB 593), filed by Rep. Dana Trabulsy, could be considered by the full House on Thursday. The bills are similar but not identical.
SB 890 amends state law to require public safety operators who take telephone calls and provide dispatch functions for emergency medical conditions to complete a cardiovascular pulmonary resuscitation course specifically tailored to telecommunicators, or TCR training.
The bill allows a public safety agency to enter into a reciprocal agreement with another PSA, a dedicated telephone line, or a call center to provide TCR if the PSA or other agency receiving the call has 911 public safety operators that are TCR trained.
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin have passed similar legislation.
American Heart Association Florida Government Relations Director Tiffany McCaskill Henderson told Florida Politics earlier this month there is no statewide standard requiring telephone CPR training and implementation in Florida. While some dispatch centers voluntarily give CPR instructions, the vast majority do not, she said.
More than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States annually, according to the American Heart Association. Access to CPR and defibrillation more than doubles a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest.
