17-year-old girl saves life thanks to first aid course

A seventeen-year-old girl saved the life of an elderly woman in the Belgian city of Roeselare. She was able to perform CPR on the woman because she had learned it at her high school.

The girl administered chest compressions to the elderly woman (80), who suffered a cardiac arrest on the street, until she regained consciousness, after which emergency services took over upon their arrival. The woman survived and is recovering in the hospital. Without the girl's intervention, the outcome could have been very different.

In Belgium, first aid courses are also not standard or mandatory in schools. The girl was grateful to her school for the CPR lessons she was able to attend, but advocates for first aid to be included in the general curriculum of secondary education in Belgium.

In the Netherlands, there is an ongoing debate about whether or not to include first aid courses as a standard part of education.