Saving Lives

A few months ago, I volunteered to become our Club's CPR/First Aid representative.  I became a American Heart Association CPR/First Aid Instructor by taking an incredibly dry and tedious certification; which consisted of watching 7-8 hours of instructional videos and becoming current in CPR/FA myself.  I also participated in a live Instructor 8 hour Lecture/Course at another LTF location. 

I should back up a little bit.  I often refer to my dad as the safety police.  He's worked at a refinery for over 20 years, and being employed in a fairly dangerous atmosphere, they preach safety to their employees.  My dad always brought those lessons home to share with us.  "Your shoe is untied, that is not a safe behavior", "don't ever stand on a chair", and other small safety tips were often on the tip of his tongue, among other more significant pieces of advice.  So when the opportunity to become a CPR/FA Instructure presented itself, I thought, what a great opportunity, Dad would be so proud, and I could carry on his safety legacy.  Plus, we needed someone to take the reins and get our Team Members compliant with the CPR/FA requirements.

Recently, I started to feel overwhelmed with my responsibilities and commitments at work, to the point that I wanted to step back and reassess where I was spreading myself too thin.  I felt as though the CPR/FA instructing could be an area that I could dial back on, as it wasn't exactly a profitable commitment.  Team Members weren't signing up for the courses or the test outs, so often I would prep for a class, show up, wait 30 min and then leave.  To me, it was an evening set aside, wasted, that I could have been seeing clients, or doing something productive. 

I was just talking to a coworker about this, and said that I just wasn't passionate about it, it wasn't a beneficial commitment.  And I just didn't want to do it any more.  I was no longer interested.  I attempted to express that to my Training Center Represenative, who oversees all of the instructors, but I was encouraged to stay on board, at least until replacements were found.

Then tonight happened. 

After a session with a client, I went upstairs to get a protein shake.  I was lingering at the front desk, when a member came to the desk and said, "A woman just called 9-1-1 for her husband, they are down on the workout floor."  After informing my GM of the situation, I followed the member down to an elderly couple.  The husband sitting on a chest press machine, and his wife kneeling by his side, holding his hands.  She had just gotten off of the phone with 9-1-1 and responders were on their way.

Impressively, the wife calmly explained, she had come over to check on her husband, to see how long he was going to be, and she realized that something was wrong.  His eyes were glazed over, and he wasn't responding to her questions.  She expressed that he has a history of small seizures, and has been on medication to keep them at bay for some time now. 

When I first arrived, he was not very responsive, his jaw was trembling, the left side of his face was drooping, and he had some drool, that his loving wife was tending to.  A few minutes later, he started to come-to, and was starting to respond to some questions.  The paramedics arrived, and took over, asking questions, running tests, and assessing the situation.  As they manuvered him off of the workout floor via wheel chair and stretcher, he seemed to get a little worse, digressing to trembling and drooling a little more. 

The paramedic explained to him that, based on her small assessment, they would be treating him as though he was having a stroke.  So they were going to "go nice and fast" (as she said) to the hospital, and that he "would be a popular guy" when they got there.  (I love how she put that, in a positive light, careful not to alarm him or his wife.)  Needless to say, tonight my heart goes out to that couple, and I have found my inspiration and passion for being a CPR and First Aid Instructor.  All the videos and slideshows in the world can't instill in your the importance of being able to respond to an emergency situation.  Unfortunately, until you experience a situation like that first hand, its tough to sympathize and understand how powerful that knowledge truely is.

Also, thinking about educating people on this subject matter, now seems incredibly valuable.  What if that was my grandfather, or dad, or anyone who is close to me.  I would be SO incredibly thankful that there are people around that are able to respond appropriately in case of an emergency.  I think of the bulk of the team members who are delinquent on their CPR and First Aid, they work in the Child Care Center.  I can't imagine what I would do if anything happened to Dain, Ella, or Nolan; and I would hope that the people overseeing them are knowledgable in what to do in the case that something happen.

Knowledge is power.  And Spreading that knowledge is a lot more valuable to me after tonights events.  Check out AmericanHeartAssociation.org for more information on how to save lives.