On February 4th, during National Heart Month, something powerful happened in the halls of Pensacola High School.
Not a pep rally.
Not a game.
Not a test.
But a lesson that could save a life.
Thanks to a grant from the Florida Blue Foundation, enhanced CPR education was delivered to every 11th-grade student on campus, part of a growing partnership between the American Heart Association and Florida Blue.
This wasn’t symbolic. It was strategic. And it was personal.
The Long Road to a Graduation Requirement
For Inger Berg, Senior Director of the American Heart Association, this moment has been more than a decade in the making.
“CPR as a graduation requirement was signed into law in Florida in 2021,” she shared. “It was a public policy priority of ours when I started with the Heart Association in 2013, and it likely predates that. We were one of the last states to pass it.”
Most states already required CPR training for high school graduation. Florida took longer. But now it’s the law, and that matters.
Because the numbers are sobering.
Each year, approximately 350,000 sudden cardiac arrests occur outside of a hospital in the United States. Survival rates hover around 10 percent. And in nearly half of those cases, the first responder isn’t wearing a uniform.
It’s someone like you.
Or me.
Or now a junior at Pensacola High.
“We are teaching about 2,000 11th graders hands-only CPR every year in Escambia County,” Berg explained. “Think about the multiplier effect. They’re at jobs. At school. At sports practice. They go off to college. We are creating a community and a nation of lifesavers right here in Pensacola.”
The American Heart Association’s goal is ambitious: double the number of people trained in lifesaving CPR skills by 2030.
And the message during Heart Month is simple: YOU ARE A RESPONDER.
When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed from cardiac arrest on the field in 2023, millions watched in real time.
He survived because of immediate CPR and rapid medical response.
“The NFL had paramedics on the field in minutes,” Berg said. “There was a doctor. An ambulance. It was the best of the best. But you and I don’t have that following us around every day. We are dependent on someone nearby stepping in.”
That’s the gap this program fills.
Hands-only CPR is simple. Immediate. Accessible. And teachable, even to middle schoolers.
This spring, the community will see a large-scale “Press the Chest” event where hospitals, EMS, and the American Heart Association will offer public training across the region.
The invitation is open to learn the skill.
Because heart disease remains the leading killer of Americans, men and women alike.
“We only have one heart,” Berg said. “If you smoke, think about quitting. If your diet needs adjusting, consider it. Walk more. Take care of yourself. We are all at risk.”
A Tiger Comes Home
For Hong Potomski, Market President of Northwest Florida for Florida Blue, the event was more than a sponsorship.
It was a homecoming.
“It’s good to be back at Pensacola High School,” she said, smiling. “I graduated from here. I’m a Tiger.”
She walked those same halls as a student in the school’s Health Academy, shadowing clinicians and working with Escambia Health Clinic, experiences that shaped her career path in healthcare leadership.
“That exposure was gold,” she reflected. “It gives you a different perspective. You learn the many sides of healthcare.”
Her career eventually led her to cardiology operations at Baptist, where community outreach and CPR training were central to the mission.
“I remember earning my CPR certificate as a high school student,” she said. “Just knowing I could potentially change or save a life, that’s powerful.”
Florida Blue’s funding provides CPR kits and AED trainers to sustain the program year after year. This is now year three of the initiative in Escambia County.
And sustainability matters.
Because teaching CPR once is good. Teaching it every year to every junior?
That changes a community.
If I Was The President
I asked both women a question that’s lingered with me for years.
“If I were President of the United States,” I said, “I’d require everyone to learn CPR. It may be one of the most important life skills we could teach, right?!”
They didn’t hesitate.
“Yes,” Hong answered. “It’s a game changer.”
And watching hundreds of 16 and 17 year-olds practicing compressions, hands centered, shoulders locked, and using a rhythmic pressing, you could feel it.
This wasn’t just compliance with a graduation requirement. It was empowerment and responsibility.
It was a reminder that sometimes the most important lessons don’t show up on a transcript, but they show up in a moment when someone collapses, and another human being steps forward instead of stepping back.
Pensacola High School didn’t just host an event on February 4th. It helped build a generation of responders.
And in a world where seconds matter, that may be one of the most important investments we can make.
*Special thank you to Nemours, Ascension Sacred Heart, Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart, and Escambia County Public Schools for also participating in these events.
