Houston ISD Using New Software to Track AED, CPR Certification

Houston ISD launched new software to track staff certified at performing CPR, using automated defibrillators (AED) and performing Stop the Bleed techniques.

The district aims to have multiple staff members certified at every campus by Oct. 31.

Monthly AED inspection records will be housed in a new life safety equipment management system charter called School Health Connect.

Officials discussed ongoing AED improvements, HVAC upgrades and school threat assessments at its first security committee meeting of the semester last week, two months after Marshall Middle School student Landon Payton died after suffering from a medical emergency in the school’s gym.

The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released the cause of death, but his family’s lawyer and a local teachers’ union have stated that the gym’s AED was not working at the time of the emergency. District officials said that HISD had “100 percent accountability” for every AED in the district, although it has not yet publicly released the status of each device.

“We know where the AEDs are. We’re now working through their status in terms of monthly checks, batteries, pads and functionality,” safety and emergency management director Craig Straw said.

It will help track individual certifications for CPR, first aid, AEDs and Stop the Bleed kits. An in-house trainer has trained 242 attendees in CPR, first aid and AED certification since the beginning of the school year, HISD Director of Health and Medical Services Christine Barraza said, adding that the district hopes to eventually ensure that at least three staff members are certified per campus.

In August, the district reported that 868 of its 1,038 AEDs were working at the time of Payton’s death, meaning 170 were not.

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