Red Cross Training Saves a Life
If you want proof, just ask the staff at the Hoover Country Club.
A Vestavia Hills man collapsed on the driving range today. One of the employees at the golf shop was told about the emergency, grabbed an automated external defibrillator (AED), and went to the range. He described the victim as having great difficulty in breathing, as though he was taking his last breath. The employee kept the victim alive with a shock from the portable AED, allowing paramedics to take over.
That employee was one of 21,448 people in Central Alabama who got First Aid/CPR training from the American Red Cross last year. Country Club Manager Steve Carmichael makes the training available every year to employees who want it.
"Even people with training find themselves nervous when the time comes," said Red Cross Health and Safety Supervisor Joseph James. "Imagine how helpless you feel if you don't have the knowledge and the ability to keep someone alive."
You can find out more about Red Cross Health and Safety training at:
http://www.redcrossbirmingham.org/2006CourseSchedule_halfyear.pdfAudio with Ike Pigott, Public Affairs Officer
E-mail Ike if you use it on air.