This Saturday and the next, June 1st and 8th, you can learn CPR and summer safety – for FREE – in Stuart, Port St. Lucie and Vero Beach.
SF: Hi, I’m Shaun Fix. I am with Emergency Medical Consultants.
They’re a medical education company based in Port St Lucie.
SF: We train about 24,000 people around the country each year.
They opened in 1988 and were immediately authorized by the American Heart Association. Fix knows his stuff, too. In addition to running the company, for the past 35 years he has served as a Fire Captain and Paramedic in charge of emergency medicine with Boca Raton Fire Rescue. And he originally started with St. Lucie County Fire Rescue.
SF: I have seen a lot of things in my career. Some good. Some not so good.
In the not-so-good category are calls where…
SF: 13 children who had had some type of an accident didn’t survive.
This prompted him to offer the free courses at the start of each summer when kids are more likely to drown or be injured. The course teaches how to perform CPR while waiting for help to arrive.
SF: Actually, it is really important and makes the difference between life and death in many cases.
They train you on a newer-style mannequin…
SF: …what they call a feedback mannequin.
It clicks and lights up to show if you are doing it correctly.
SF: When you push the chest deep enough, you’ll hear it.
(sound of clicking as he demonstrates)
Sometimes even CPR isn’t effective. That’s why the course emphasizes prevention and safety.
SF: A big part of what we teach in this class for the free CPR is a program that I call Project Kid Keeper.
They talk about...
SF: Fire safety, exit plans in the house, car seats, bicycle safety, prevention of drowning, pool fences, and pool alarms, and the fact that there needs to be 100% attention when children are in the pool.
The free courses are June 1 from 10am – 12 noon at the Cleveland Clinic Martin Health in Stuart, and 12 noon to 2pm at the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital in Vero Beach. Then June 8th from 10am to 12 noon at Emergency Medical Consultants, Inc. in Port St Lucie.
You’ll also learn how to make and use a tourniquet… and how to operate…
SF: the Automatic External Defibrillators or AEDs.
They use a computerized version designed for the general public. You just turn it on and it tells you what to do.
(Sound of AED as he demonstrates)
They do offer courses year-round for a fee and will come to your office or group. One of the classes is called Stop the Bleed and is an initiative of Homeland Security responding to the rise in mass shootings and the fact that…
SF: A great number of the victims who died – died because they were on the ground bleeding and there was nobody to come in and stop the bleeding…
One of several important steps the course teaches is how to apply pressure to the wound.
TOC: Right on it?
SF: Directly on top of the wound where the blood is coming from.
We ask about any success stories and in fact…
LP: Hi, I’m Lindsey Parsons and I am the marketing coordinator here at Emergency Medical Consultants.
Parsons has just heard from a student. She wrote to say that the day after she took their CPR and First Aid classes…
LP: She passed a car accident where a woman had been ejected from her car.
She helped until emergency personnel arrived.
LP: The timing was just amazing – she was like, ‘I can’t believe I took the class the day before and the very next day I was able to help save someone’s life.’ So, everyday heroes. It happens every day.
Learn more about Emergency Medical Consultants and the free classes by clicking here: https://emcmedicaltraining.com/