“The more, the better” — it’s a phrase normally used with money, friends, vacations or happiness.
But in the case of those needing a quick response to a medical emergency such as a heart attack, more is not better — unless it’s about the availability of someone to correctly respond to a medical emergency. Once a quarter the Elmore County EMA and partner Haynes Ambulance offers CPR/AED training and the classes are always full.
“That is a good thing and a bad thing,” Elmore County EMA’s Julie Lawerence said. “Good in that we will have that many more people out there trained and ready to assist should the need arise.”
Those medical needs can come anywhere. At Thursday’s class were school teachers, corrections officers and first responders either learning how to properly perform CPR or get recertified. The classes are limited in size, with about 15 people, to allow more hands-on training with Haynes trainer Patti Brown.
“She likes to keep it about that size,” Lawrence said. “It allows one-on-one instruction as she needs to while showing actual compressions on test models of adults and children.”
Students learned the ratio of compressions to breaths for CPR and where and how to use an AED (automated external defibrillator).
Although classes are scheduled for April 27, July 27, and Oct. 26, there is a priority list for who is selected. But this is a great opportunity for the public to become certified.
“We have a waiting list already for the next class,” Lawrence said. “We send out notices of the class to our partner agencies. We try to get our first responders, schools, nursing homes, places like that that might have new staff that need certification or existing staff that needs recertification. If we don’t fill spaces up with our partner agencies then we open it up to the public for them to come in.”
At many, if not all, public events and at schools, AEDs are placed for use in case of a medical emergency.
“You are finding those out in the public more, especially at schools and public events,” Lawrence said. “While the instructions with the AEDs are pretty clear, having the training on how to place the electrical pads and under what situations can be a great help.”
