Alanson Public Schools earns MI HEARTSafe school designation

ALANSON — For the first time, Alanson Public Schools has been designated as a HEARTSafe school. 

Alanson superintendent and principal Rachelle Cook said the idea to go for the designation came from the school’s nurse, Amy Flynn.  

Cook said Flynn brought the idea to her and handled a majority of the legwork. In a prior job, Flynn had worked with MI HEARTSafe designations.  

The decision to get designated was not a response to a prior emergency, but rather something Flynn had done at a previous job, Cook told the Petoskey News-Review.  

“Luckily, no, we have not had anything happen that caused us to go this route,” Cook said.   

According to a press release, Flynn said she enjoys teaching other community members how to keep people safe.  

“I can’t think of another place I would rather be in my career at this point in my life, than providing professional medical support to schools while spending time with kids,” Flynn said in the release.  

Cook said she didn’t know about the designation before Flynn brought it up to her, and she was excited to have it come to the school.  

“It is important because I want to do anything I can to keep our staff and our students safe,” Cook said. 

As a part of the designation, different staff members will be trained in CPR. In addition, there will be certain roles teachers will be asked to perform in case of an emergency. The school will be conducting drills to ensure all roles are covered. One drill will be performed when nobody is in school, and one will be conducted when students are there.  

To earn a MI HEARTSafe designation, a school should have a cardiac emergency response plan, have staff and students trained on how to see signs of a cardiac emergency, have staff that know CPR, and have properly maintained and inspected defibrillators available.  

The MI HEARTSafe School Award Program was originally created to help schools prepare in case of a cardiac emergency. Any school in Michigan can apply for the designation. 

Schools qualifying for the designation must reapply every three years, and schools continue to maintain all the necessary requirements.  

Flynn told the Petoskey News-Review the school needed four staff members to receive CPR, first aid and AED training to be considered for the designation. Her goal was six people, but she ended up training more. 

She added that she is passionate about educating people in her community about how to best keep people safe. 

"This part of my career is more focused on ... casting a wider net, and doing whatever I can to help benefit our community — to help educate, and offer services, and try to do whatever I can to be a part of the solution," Flynn said. "To help people be healthy, stay healthy, get healthy — and maybe how to save a life in the process."

Alanson officials heard that they earned the designation near the end of May.  

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Now that the school has earned the designation, Flynn and Cook are hoping to be able to celebrate in person with the students. 

While she’s not sure when it will happen, Cook said someone from MI HEARTSafe will be visiting the school, bringing a banner to present to the school during an assembly.  

“We’re excited to do that with our kids,” Cook said.