VALLEY — A total of 19 junior ambassadors with the Greater Valley Area Chamber of Commerce underwent training in basic life support Saturday morning at the local Chamber office. Captain Matt Shiver and firefighter/paramedic Noah Hurst of Lanett Fire & EMS taught first responder CPR in the conference room.

“Our junior ambassadors are students in grades 9-12 at all high schools in Chambers County,” said Chamber Executive Director Carrie Royster. “It’s a good group to work with. They are very bright and conscientious in carrying out assignments. They were tested today, and each one who passed the test will be certified in CPR.”

Basic life support is a level of medical care which is used for victims of life-threatening illnesses or injuries until they can be given full medical care at a hospital. It can be given by trained medical personnel, including emergency medical technicians, paramedics and by certified bystanders.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is an emergency procedure that combines chest compressions often with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures can be taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest. It is recommended in those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing. It’s a last-resort intervention for someone who is not breathing and who would certainly die without it.

Chamber ambassadors who took part were Olivia Johnson, Jesilyn Mabrey, Sofia Shrewsbury, Sarah Smith, Meghan Tranqui, and Hannah Yeager of Springwood School; Garrison Brown, Cayden Cook, Dylan Cook, Camryn Downs, Hazel Floyd, Hunter Stanfield and Alaric Wright of Valley High; Makenzie Finley of LaFayette High; and Kinsley Gregory, Maci Harmon, Katlyn Keebler, Peyton Lamb and Alyssa Sorrells of Chambers Academy.