Every year, Kappa Beta organizes a free event to help raise CPR awareness for students at Cal State Long Beach. This year, the fraternity certified nearly 100 students with the help of Associated Students, Inc. and the American Heart Association.
On March 12, the Kappa Beta chapter of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc. held its 10th annual free certification event to CSULB students.
Diego Cabrera, senior kinesiology major and treasurer of Sigma Lambda Beta, said that the fraternity had a background story as to why arming students with CPR knowledge is important.
“The program was established in 2001 because there was an unfortunate death of one of our fraternity brothers, Victor Correa, who died while vacationing and visiting his family in Puerto Rico,” Cabrera said. “I’m not sure as to what happened or the full details, but if someone knew CPR right there and then, he would’ve lived and been here with us today.”
Established at CSULB in 2001, Kappa Beta emphasizes the needs and wants of neighboring communities, to establish partnerships with others, maintain a brotherhood, and to continue and preserve a strong academic structure while spreading cultural awareness and service at CSULB.
The fraternity’s mission is to teach people CPR so that they can perform and provide assistance to others whenever a tragedy occurs.
This year, the chapter’s goal was to certify 100 students, and that number has been increasing since the program was established in 2001.
It ended up being a great turnout, according to Cabrera.
“The certification event was a great success and we were able to certify 93 people, and overall, it was a win in our book considering that the chapter contains seven members,” Cabrera said.
They started off certifying 25 people, but each year, that number has gone up with the help of ASI funding, Cabrera said.
“I hope that the students were able to benefit from the event and from being certified so they can save a life by having the knowledge and skills that others don’t,” Cabrera said. “I would hope that the students are able to instruct others so that they are aware of CPR so that they can prevent an incident and save the life.”
According to Cabrera, the chapter’s ultimate goal is to be able to continue the event to equip everyone with the knowledge of CPR and have certification so that they can teach others the same skills to help and prevent a death.
Aldo Palacios, a sophomore and criminal justice major, said that the event was an overall good experience for him and the fraternity.
“The event was cool and helpful because it was organized by ASI and AHA, and they supplied all of the materials needed for the instruction,” Palacios said. “The whole process was smooth, which made it pleasurable for everyone.”
The Heartsaver First-Aid CPR AED is a classroom, video-based course that teaches students the critical skills to be able to respond to and manage an emergency within a matter of minutes. The course teaches students to treat bleeding, sprains, broken bones, shock and other first-aid emergencies.
Palacios hopes the number of students trained in CPR will keep rising.
“A goal for us is to increase the number of students and hopefully by next year we are able to assist 150 people,” Palacios said. “This is a goal that we look forward to each year.”