May 27, 2011
For Immediate Release
By Elena Groholske, student news writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville University’s Dr. John Mark Carter, professor of recreation and aquatics, has been awarded the 2011 American Heart Association’s Basic Life Support Instructor of the Year at the American Heart Association’s Training Center at Taylor Regional Hospital Training Center.
Carter, who has taught at CU since 13 years, was among 131 instructors nominated throughout Kentucky and Indiana.
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| Dr. John M. Carter, professor of recreation and aquatics at Campbellsville University, receives the American Heart Association Basic Life Support Instructor of the Year Award from Jane Wheatley, chief executive officer of Taylor Regional Hospital, who is also a member of Campbellsville University’s Board of Trustees. ( Photo by Richard Phillips) |
“Doc Carter has been such a positive resource for the community and the university,” Richard Phillips, American Heart Association Training Center Coordinator at Taylor Regional Hospital, said. “We’re so excited about his receiving this recognition.”
CPR, which stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, isa combination of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions. If someone isn’t breathing or circulating blood adequately, CPR can restore circulation of oxygen-rich blood to the brain. Without oxygen, permanent brain damage or death can occur in less than eight minutes. CPR training is one of the training skills implemented into many classes Carter teaches.
“He has trained hundreds of students in lifesaving techniques and those students returned to various points throughout the world with newfound skill and confidence,” Jane Wheatley, chief executive officer of Taylor Regional Hospital, said. “Dr. Carter is dedicated to this community with his outreach work.” Wheatley is also a member of the CU Board of Trustees.
Phillips said, “I have personally witnessed Dr. Carter’s dedication to this community and to the educational community with his outreach work which includes many nursing students who have to understand CPR on an extremely proficient level which Dr. Carter, above the qualification of his lay person class, trained on his own so he could be a resource to CU’s School of Nursing.”
Phillips said, administratively, Carter “always keeps his records updated and in perfect order.”
Fall 2010 marked the 13th annual WHALE (Water Habits Are Learned Early) Tales organized by Carter at Campbellsville University.
WHALE Tales is a national water safety educational program, created by the Red Cross, and especially adapted by Carter as a field trip experience to the CU swimming pool, which shows the students of Taylor County and Campbellsville Elementary the importance of playing it safe when it comes to swimming.
While participating in WHALE Tales the children learn eight guidelines: be cool, follow the rule; swim with a buddy in a supervised area; look before you leap; don’t just pack it, wear your jacket; reach or throw, don’t go; think so I don’t sink; cold can kill; learn about boating before you go floating. These eight simple steps are designed to reduce the drowning of children.
These guidelines are then demonstrated live to the young students in the Campbellsville University Natatorium by CU students who are taking the course HP 340 Water Safety Instructor/Lifeguard Training.
The fall marked Carter’s 30th year with the WHALE Tales program. His diligence with this project has helped 24,000 children over the past three decades. In the 2010 year, the program reached out to over 400 Taylor County and Campbellsville students.
“There is a great importance to show these students in particular what water safety is all about due to the fact that Taylor County has such an abundance of bodies of water,” Carter said.
He is excited for the future of WHALE Tales and plans to continue the program in the years to come.
Carter is a 1966 graduate of Campbellsville High School, and he attended Campbellsville University from 1966 to 1968 and graduated with a bachelor of science from Western Kentucky University in 1970 in recreation. He has a master’s in public service from WKU and a master’s in religious education from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary ion Louisville. His doctorate of recreation is from Indiana University.
In addition to teaching at CU, Carter has taught at Wingate University, WKU and Indiana University.
He is married to Cindy Carter, and they have a daughter, Caroline, and granddaughter, Calleigh. He is the son of the late Dr. John M. and June Winslow Carter. Dr John M. Carter was president of Campbellsville College from 1948 to 1968.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with over 3,000 students offering 63 undergraduate programs, 17 master’s degrees and five postgraduate areas. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.