FAQs
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
It was a 3H day as we say on the East coast - Hazy, Hot, and Humid. I was driving Ambulance 30 out of Merrifield, Virginia. We responded to a call at a popular eating establishment in Fairfax Circle. When we arrived, we found a man collapsed beside his table not breathing with no signs of life. We promptly began CPR while everyone else was, well, eating. It struck me as odd that no one had initiated such life saving care until I realized that people just don't know that CPR must be started before 911 arrives for the patient to have a second chance of life. It must have been six or seven minutes by the time we arrived, assessed the situation, set up our equipment, and started care. In fact, the national average response time for 911 is 4 - 8 minutes. For every minute that patients do not receive CPR, they tend to lose about ten percent of life viability. We were now faced with a man who appeared to be in his early fifties with about a 30% chance of pulling through his cardiac arrest - sadly he did not make it. Unfortunately, this was not the first rescue call that I had run where the bystanders seemingly did not know what to do - all within the first year into my career! The following week, I attended an instructor course through the American Heart Association and have been teaching ever since. I now get to teach everything that I wish I could have told to the bystanders but of course did not have time to in the moment. I get to teach that CPR doubles to quadruples the chance of survival but that it must be initiated within three minutes of collapse to enjoy this statistic. You've probably figured out by now that this SELDOM CAN BE 911 - WE JUST CAN'T GET THERE FAST ENOUGH TO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE. It's up to you to give the professional rescuers a viable patient - and it all starts with learning CPR.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
Educational research supports that First Aid & CPR training is best retained by utilizing a video presentation with hands-on practice of key skills. When looking for a high quality course, customers should look for ones that encourage lots of practice while affording time to answer questions. Instructors that have the most insight into skill acquisition and first aid knowledge are generally the ones who have done it themselves. Just in Time Training utilizes key instructors that have such knowledge such that your time spent in class is at once well spent and seemingly speeds by.