Act First, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that teaches Philly high school students critical first aid through three avenues: CPR, Narcan administration, and bleed prevention.
As winners of the 2023 Penn President’s Engagement Prize, our non-profit has been teaching our courses since last fall. So far, we have successfully taught at over 10 schools in the Philadelphia area including Sayre High School, West Philly High School, Mariana Bracetti Academy Charter School, the Workshop School, High School For Creative & Performing Arts, and more!
Most education surrounding drugs to high schoolers focuses on the legality and negatives of drugs; but never what to do when someone they know needs help after using. With the high rates of gun violence, students should know how to save the life of someone who’s been impacted. We want to teach students, who are at risk of seeing these issues, how to save people’s lives. Last academic year, we taught more than 900 Philly students in over 70 classes, and our pre- and post-course survey data reveals a significant increase in student confidence when it comes to aiding others during emergency situations.
Act First also coordinates with Penn Medicine's Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy to conduct opioid reversal outreach in the Philadelpha community.
Please fill out our interest form with this link if you are interested in becoming one of our instructors: https://forms.gle/QeR2jWUNeRGNQMCH6