Heartsaver CPR-AED Course

Local 479’s Education Department urges all its members to sign up for the Heartsaver CPR/AED Training Course, which is offered on a frequent basis. Emergencies are never planned and you may find yourself the only person around with a chance to save the life of a loved one.

The American Heart Association (AHA) Heartsaver© CPR-AED course is designed to train participants to save lives of victims in cardiac arrest through high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). This course prepares lay rescuers to know when-and-how to perform CPR in home and business settings. The course includes adult, child, and infant rescue techniques – including the proper use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and breathing mask devices.

Those who successfully complete the course will receive an AHA Heartsaver© CPR Card valid for two years.

General Education Outcomes

• Critical Thinking/ Problem Solving
• Oral Communication

Prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites. The course can be physically demanding and each participant should evaluate their own ability to participate in physically demanding activities. Students should also dress accordingly for class.

Class Length

The course is taught during a one day session. Each student will receive approximately 4.5 hours of instruction. The actual class length will be 5 to 5.5 hours when breaks and lunch time are included.

Instructors and Their Qualifications

All instructors are have completed an AHA Basic Life Support (BLS) CPR instructor course. Every instructor has real-life experience leading out-of-hospital cardiac arrest resuscitation teams and performing the CPR techniques taught in this course.

Core Competencies Evaluation

All students are required to successfully pass three competency evaluations – one each for adult (with AED), child and infant CPR. Students are evaluated against an AHA provided checklist which is made available to every student at the beginning of class.

Required Reading and Texts

Heartsaver© CPR AED Student Workbook, ISBN # 978-1-61669-421-0. A copy of this book is provided by IATSE Local 479 to every student.

Flow of Learning

1. Introduction to course and instructor(s), course administrative needs and review of emergency procedures to be used during course;
2. Adult CPR, including use of AED, followed by student skills evaluation;
3. Adult Airway Obstruction management;
4. Working with additional rescuers;
5. Opioid abuse recognition and Naloxone administration overview;
6. Lunch;
7. Child CPR, followed by student skills evaluation;
8. Child airway obstruction management;
9. Infant CPR, followed by student skills evaluation;
10. Infant airway obstruction management;
11. Course review and final question and answer period;
12. Course evaluation forms collected and course completion cards delivered to students.

Class Facts & Figures

• Program launched on July 26, 2014
• Open to IA members and their families
• 8:1 student to instructor ratio
• More than 300 people have been certified since the program first began
• Instructors include full Paramedics
• All instructors have gone through the training program from the American Heart Association
• Program includes training with adult, child, and infant manikins each of which provide students with live feedback
• Currently supported by the IATSE Training Trust
• A training video is provided by the American Heart Association

Students will learn:

• The Chain of Survival
• The earlier the intervention the better the chance of a positive result, from CPR to defibrillation.
• Safe operation of Automated External Defibrillator (AED)

How to Sign Up

The Education Department sends open invitations to members approximately one week prior to a class, so pay attention to your inbox.  The Education Calendar (found on the Education page) typically indicates future dates for this class.