Welding Students Earn Heartsaver CPR Certification

Capital Region BOCES welding students trained in choking relief, CPR and automated external defibrillator use with an Emergency Medical Technician instructor.

Updated on Nov. 1, 2026 in Heart Disease

Welding Students Earn Heartsaver CPR Certification

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Would you feel confident performing CPR if someone near you collapsed?

Students in the Welding and Metal Fabrication program at the Schoharie Campus earned American Heart Association Heartsaver Certification after lessons led by Emergency Medical Technician instructor Mike Turek. The training covered clearing airways, CPR and automated external defibrillator use on adults and children.

Why it matters

Early CPR after a cardiac arrest more than doubles a person's likelihood of survival, according to the American Red Cross. With about 350,000 cardiac arrest deaths in the United States each year, trained bystanders can make the difference between life and death.

Early CPR more than doubles survival likelihood after cardiac arrest, according to the American Red Cross, while roughly 350,000 people die from cardiac arrest in the United States each year. The article does not report how many students were certified or how many have used the skills.

The players

Capital Region BOCES

Capital Region BOCES is a regional educational services agency that operates career and technical education programs across the Capital Region of New York.

American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a national nonprofit that develops cardiac care guidelines and offers Heartsaver CPR and first aid certification courses.

The details

Emergency Medical Technician program instructor Mike Turek taught welding students to clear the throats of choking babies and adults, perform CPR and use an automated external defibrillator. The Welding and Metal Fabrication program is offered on the Schoharie and Colonie campuses.

Students completed the CPR and defibrillator class periods and earned certification in the weeks before publication on November 1, 2026.
The two-year Welding and Metal Fabrication program is taught on the Albany and Schoharie campuses.

Big Picture

The training extends the American Red Cross finding that early CPR more than doubles cardiac arrest survival by placing life-saving skills in vocational classrooms rather than only in medical settings. It reflects a broader push to train non-medical workers in CPR and defibrillator use.

Anyone can take a CPR and automated external defibrillator course to be ready if someone nearby suffers cardiac arrest. Learning to clear a choking airway is a skill that applies to infants as well as adults.

The takeaway

Learning basic CPR and how to clear a choking airway can help you respond quickly in an emergency. Consider taking a certified course such as Heartsaver to build these skills.