AED Training

Public Health Matters Blog

Heart attack numbers are staggering. About 350,000 people have a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital each year, and about 9 in 10 of them die. Find CPR training and AED Training classes for your group anywhere in the US, Canada, or Mexico. Also, read more about the importance of knowing how to properly administer CPR and use an AED.

Prep Your Health - Practical Skills

Click here for CPR training classes for your group anywhere in the US

It's important to practice self-help and life-saving skills/lessons. Practice every day to prepare and protect your health and the health of others. Learn more about how to stay up to date and practice skills.

Education at Your Fingertips

Learn how to perform Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation! American CPR Training^® offers live, onsite, Socially Distanced First Aid, CPR, and over 100 OSHA Safety Training classes. Access additional resources for CPR, including the study behind the training, videos, printable resources, social media assets, and more.

The Prestan Professional AED Trainer PLUS is a totally updated and customizable AED Trainer.  It is the most accurate representation of how current AEDs in the marketplace look and perform.  It offers features not found on any other universal AED Trainer, including a Child Button.

This realistic unit gives students a true-to-life training experience.  Voice prompts are clear and calm and the training pads sense when they are placed on a manikin.

Instructors can customize their training classes with options for scenarios and volume as well as the ability to turn on or off the compression metronome and/or the “give breaths” voice prompt.

With a 3-year warranty and durable long-lasting pads, the AED Trainer PLUS is built to last.

That's right - a Month of activities and actions to bring more awareness to lifesaving CPR and amazing Automated External Defibrillators - both vital links in the Lifesaving Chain of Survival.

What can YOU do for CPR & AED Awareness Month?

The symbol for Valentine's Day is a heart - and we're all about hearts!

We've been sharing our CPR Training & AED Training at ½ the Time, ½ the Price, and TWICE the Fun!™ for almost a quarter century now - so you know we know hearts!

Postcard Happy St.. Valentine

We've talked about the importance of AED use in the Chain of Survival, but what is it really about?

Early Defibrillation

Early defibrillation and entry into the Emergency Medical System is vital to the victim’s survival. Many public and private organizations are now equipped with Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). Proper administration of an AED device to a victim of cardiac arrest within the first 1 to 5 minutes can raise a victim’s survival chances to as high as 74%.

AED’s are becoming increasingly affordable and common, and AED use is thought by many to be easier than learning CPR. AEDs are lightweight, run on batteries, analyze the heart rhythm, and automatically indicate when to shock, and when to continue CPR.

The AED unit should be retrieved right after the EMS are notified. Have someone else retrieve and begin setting the unit up while you attend to the victim.

Get an AED Training Quote Now

AED: Automated External Defibrillation
2½ Hours
$16.50 - $29 per student
2 Year Certification
Includes Student Handbook, Certification Card, Reminder Pen, & More
Pricing determined by class size, combination of safety topics, and demographics.

Get an online quote for Group AED Training

Get involved: We need to be a Nation of By-Doers, not By-Standers. Lives are saved by intervention of friends, neighbors, and strangers before EMS arrives every day.

Fear of retribution: Unfortunately, in this day of litigiousness, many people fear repercussions from getting involved. Isn't that sad? Wouldn't you rather have someone try to save your life than stand by for fear of you our your family suing them afterward?

Gotcha covered: The good news is that in almost every state of the union, the law has your back. While some lawyers and individuals may unscrupulously pursue any avenue to chase a buck, lawmakers understand that life supersedes all other concerns.

While the actual statutes vary, the "essence" of Good Samaritan Legislature in most jurisdictions is that a Bystander, acting in good faith, attempting to perform first aid, cpr, or rescue using an AED cannot be held civilly liable for unintentional harm caused to a victim while attempting to resuscitate or otherwise perform lifesaving aid.

So what are the "ground rules"?

Nearly Universally, these principles apply:

1. You must act in good faith.
2. You are neither reckless nor negligent.
3. Act as a prudent person would.
4. Only provide care that is within the scope of your training.
5. You must not abandon the victim once you have begun care.
6. You must not accept anything in return for your services.

What else?

Prior to providing care for a Conscious Adult, you must first obtain consent. This is a very simple procedure and requires only a few seconds. The steps are as follows:

1. Tell the victim your name.
2. Tell them you have been trained to assist in First Aid and/or CPR
3. Ask the person if he/she wants help.
4. Once they indicate that they want your help, begin care.

*If the victim is a minor, you may obtain consent from the minor’s legal guardian or parent if they are present on the scene. If the minor’s legal guardian or parent is not present, consider it a situation of Implied Consent.

What is Implied Consent?

If the victim is seriously ill, extremely confused, or unconscious, he or she may not be able to give consent. The law then assumes that the victims would most likely give consent if they could, so assistance may be given without verbal permission.

Duty to Act...

What are we talking about here? Moral or Legal? This is the humdinger...  Depending on the specific State Law, most licensed and/or certified professionals, medical personnel, public safety officers and medically trained government employees have a “duty to act” while they are working or on assignment. If responding to an emergency while not on duty, the same person would be protected as a bystander choosing to provide care under the Good Samaritan Laws. This area of concern has been in the media a lot lately - especially regarding senior care and "do not resuscitate" orders.

Curious Notes:

• Rhode Island specifically applies their Good Sam to anaphylactic shock care, too.
• Utah excludes liability for failure to obtain consent
• Texas has one of the most simple and broad Good Sam Coverage Statutes: Persons not licensed or certified in the healing arts who in good faith administer emergency care as emergency medical service personnel are not liable in civil damages for an act performed in administering the care unless the act is wilfully or wantonly negligent. This section applies without regard to whether the care is provided for or in expectation of remuneration.

Want to learn more? Want to know about your State? Read this excellent article: Good Samaritan Laws by state - provided by Recreation Law

Clinical Death/ Biological Death:

What happens when an individual’s breathing and heartbeat stop? The first stage is called Clinical Death.  Clinical death is not necessarily permanent. An individual’s brain can stay alive for about 4-6 minutes after breathing and heartbeat have stopped.  This isn’t much time, but it is our “Window of Survival.” If appropriate medical care is initiated within the first minutes of cardiac arrest, the individual has a much greater chance of survival. Many individuals have survived because of early entry into the Emergency Medical System (EMS), and prompt bystander CPR and Defibrillation. If more than 4-6 minutes elapse, however, the individual will most likely experience permanent and irreversible brain damage or Biological Death.

Most people, when confronted by a medical emergency of this nature will active EMS by calling 911.  This is a critical step, the first link in the Chain of Survival, but it may not be enough.  The average national response time for EMT’s and Paramedics varies between 8 to 14 minutes.  Unfortunately, the victim is often brain dead before professional rescuers have even arrived on the scene.

CPR stands for CardioPulmonary Resuscitation, which means Heart and Lung Resuscitation. When an individual’s breathing and heartbeat have stopped, it is your objective to breathe for them and to beat their heart in order to keep oxygen flowing to vital organs. These are the two functions that aren’t working, and these are the two functions you are going to attempt to replace. Always activate EMS, but Early CPR and Early Defibrillation may be the key to their survival.

You've heard of the Lifesaving Chain of Survival, or maybe you haven't - either way, you should know the links in the chain and the vital role of the bystander - a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so don't be the weak link.

So what are the "links"?

EARLY ACCESS - this means getting the professional responders involved early in the process. After you have determined unresponsiveness in a suspected cardiovascular or cerebrovascular attack victim, Call 9-1-1. Also, retrieve an AED if you know one is nearby - you will likely need it. If you can, have someone else activate EMS (calling 9-1-1) and get the AED while you move on to other links in the chain.

EARLY CPR - Don't hesitate. CPR is not going to be effective unless started immediately - and don't worry about harming the victim.. many bystanders are concerned about tearing clothing, cracking ribs, or liability... The Good Samaritan Act is there to cover any liability, and damage to the victims clothing or ribs? Really? What could possibly be worse than death.. get started. Whether you know full CPR, or Compression only CPR - anything is better than nothing. If you are concerned about being "current" and knowing the latest CPR techniques, consider CPR Renewal now.

EARLY DEFIBRILLATION - Apply that AED and follow the directions. Any quality CPR course includes AED Principles, and you can get full AED certification with hands-on practice on an AED Trainer, too. Even if you have never had any training on AEDs, they are simple, and nearly all have both audio- and visual- guides to walk you through the process, including when to return to performing CPR... if your workplace, place of worship, or gathering spot doesn't have an AED - push for them to get one, or check out the AED Grant program.

EARLY ADVANCED CARE - Remember link one? Activating EMS? This is critical. You may have sustained the victim's viability/recoverability through CPR, you may even have resuscitated with you AED, but a person that has suffered such an event requires immediate advanced medical care... hand them over to EMS so they can stay alive and get what assistance they need to help avoid another life-threatening incident.

Have you heard of the American Red Cross Ready Rating Program?

We've been members here at American CPR Training™ since before it began.
...How is that?

We were part of a group introduced to the concept and contributing input on what should be included in the program before the website and program were publicly released. While you might think we wouldn't promote the American Red Cross, since hey also offer CPR & First Aid Training, that's not the case at all. They provide a totally different type of service - they offer community classes by an large, while we specialize in on-site training for groups and especially businesses. Our main focus is getting this lifesaving education out to many and we do this through our streamlined, on-site "corporate style" presentation at ½ the Time, ½ the Price, and TWICE the Fun!™, through our experienced Instructors... the Red Cross offers a much longer course (more expensive, of course, too) through primarily layperson instructors... it's just not the same thing. (The American Red Cross is also a sizable, and valued customer of our products, so that makes us rather warm-and-fuzzy toward them, too!)

We feel very strongly about participation in the Ready Rating program and strongly encourage you to join. It is 100% free.

What is the Ready Rating Program?

Created in 2008 by the St. Louis Area Chapter, Ready Rating was originally designed as a marketing tool that would help to open doors and allow conversations to take place within businesses, organizations and schools about how to better prepare for emergencies. However, the program became much more than that in a short amount of time. In 2009 the St. Louis Area Chapter was joined by American Red Cross chapters in the following eight (8) cities for a two-year pilot: New York, NY; Chicago, IL; Raleigh, NC; Washington, DC; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; Dallas, TX; and, New Orleans, LA.

With the financial support of the Ready Rating National Founding Sponsor, Anheuser Busch, the nine (9) pilot chapters have demonstrated that the Ready Rating program is valued by it members, and helps businesses, organizations and schools improve their levels of preparedness. This is demonstrated by an average increase in members’ Ready Rating assessment score of 14% the first year, and a dramatic 50% in the second year!

In 2010, management of the Ready Rating program was transitioned to American Red Cross national headquarters, and with the addition of Sam’s Club as a National Sponsor, several enhancements to the Ready Rating website and tools were added to the program. The enhancements include a streamlined process for new members to sign up and begin using the program, an update of the assessment to better align with the Department of Homeland Security Private Sector Preparedness Guidance (PS-Prep), and increased capacity to make the Ready Rating program available nationwide. Beginning in 2015 the ReadyGo and ReadyAdvance Assessments as well as the Emergency Action Plans EAPGo and EAPAdvance meet or exceed minimal OSHA standards for organizational preparedness.

Why should you join is the Ready Rating Program?

Whether your are an American CPR Training™ Client, Affiliate Instructor, Student, or just a reader of our articles, there are great free benefits for you by becoming a Ready Rating Member.

As a member of the Ready Rating program you will receive the following benefits:

• Access to the online Ready Rating Dashboard, which can help you to evaluate your business, organization or school's level of preparedness
• Access to the American Red Cross Ready Rating member seal that can be used to publicly display your commitment to preparedness to your constituents
• Optional public recognition of your commitment to preparedness by choosing to be listed beside other like-minded organizations on this website in the Current Member Listing
• Customized feedback and recommendations for improvement based on your assessment scores
• Option to create an Organization Manager account that links the member accounts of multiple site/branches/locations/facilities, allowing for all of the 'child' accounts' assessments to be viewed by one 'parent' account.  Learn more...

Want to learn more about how it works?

Ready to join?

See all our American Red Cross Emergency, Disaster, Survival, First Aid, & CPR Products!

With the ridiculously cold weather lately, it might seem that we're thinking about June wistfully for temperature reasons, but no - there's another reason...

June is CPR & AED Awareness Month.

"So?" You ask... So: Even though we have thousands of Instructors worldwide, we book up in June. Everyone wants to schedule their on-site CPR & AED Training in June.

Don't wait until May to try to schedule your classes - if you plan to be a part of the National campaign to raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest and how CPR training and AED use save thousands of lives, schedule your annual CPR & AED classes now.

Get an updated quote for training at your location, and let's get those dates nailed down. It will make it easier for you to plan ahead and for your Team to block out the time on their calendars far in advance.

CPR & AED Awareness Month is June - schedule your classes now... Beat the Rush!