Cedar Valley High Grad Designs CPR Device After Losing Both Parents
May 27, 2020, 8:23 PM | Updated: 8:39 pm
EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah – Cedar Valley High School celebrated its first-ever graduating class this spring, with Kennedy Hall among the graduating Aviators.
Hall has already lost so much in her young life, but she was able to turn her experience into something that could save other lives in the future.
It has been a good year for Hall. She loved her classmates, got good grades and won a presidential Career and Technical Education scholarship for her work in the medical field.
“It’s a big deal to get chosen for that scholarship,” said Kenyon Christen, assistant principal at Cedar Valley High. “Kennedy is a fantastic student and a positive influence on all the other students in the school. Her parents are definitely proud.”
Hall sure hopes so. Medicine runs in her family. Her two brothers were both EMTs and her mom was a Certified Nursing Assistant.
“I used to read her CNA books when I was a kid and she went to nursing school and I used to read her nursing books when she was done,” she said.
It’s a big reason Hall is so interested in medicine, but it’s not the only reason.
“My dad passed away when I was 10. It was very sudden. He had collapsed,” she said.
Hall lost her father seven years ago and just last year, her mother passed away as well.
“The same thing happened with my mom,” said Hall. “She had a heart attack when I was 15.”
She said both her parents were given CPR but did not survive.
Hall took her grief and turned it into motivation.
As part of her scholarship entry, she designed a CPR device that would deliver artificial breathing to patients and eliminate a higher chance of human error.
“If something like this had been created and been available enough, it maybe could have changed what happened with my parents,” she said. “They maybe could have still been here.”
The device is not currently in production, but maybe one day it will be.
When people ask if Hall’s parents would be proud, the answer is obvious to everyone who knows her.
“I think they’d be really proud and happy that I’ve found a way to make a difference,” she said.
Hall moved from Montana to Eagle Mountain to live with her aunt and uncle after her parents passed away.
She said she’s got a long journey ahead of her, but wants to study to become a trauma surgeon.
