CPRMom

Last week at Mass I was reminded of something really important.  Good words inspire people, bad words don't. So what does this have to do with CPR and First Aid? Okay, so to start off with,  I'm not terribly religious, although I do try to attend Mass somewhat regularly.  And I don't usually write about things that have to do with religion. But last Sunday I took home a message that I've been thinking about all week.  Good and positive words encourage and inspire people and generally make them happy.  Bad words don't.  This isn't a religious thing, it's a caring human nature and psychological thing. So again, what does this have to do with CPR and First Aid? This past week I taught a class as a child care center I've been providing courses to for the past few years.  Every time I teach there I hear some of the same story, of one of the previous CPR & First Aid Instructors they had provide a course for them.  Apparently this person was a forme

This morning we switched from daylight savings time to standard time.  I don't know about your house, but in mine the little kids were up over an hour earlier than they needed to be. So in that extra hour we all gained today that we might not have spent sleeping we can do a few things to make our homes safer. We're familiar with "Change your Clocks, Change your Batteries".  This is an excellent time to replace all the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  For those of us in the northern part of the US we've already had some really cool temps and frost.  Heating season is here and good working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are a must. But when was the last time you checked the expiration dates of the medications in your medicine cabinet or first aid kit? Many medications change their composition over time.  They can be less effective or be used to treat different symptoms during their chemical life.  Will that 2 year old bottle of

There are 2 bottles of ginger ale in my driveway. In case you're wondering why, read on for a tale of "I-don't-care-or-think-about-my-job-performance" and "Great-customer-service". We'll start with "I-don't-care-or-think-about-my-job-performance". I'm at the store, okay let's be really upfront... I was in Market Basket . Not my usual store, but the other one. The bagger, an older gentleman, said "How heavy do you want these bags?".  My reply ..."they can be heavy, but no heavier than what the bag can handle".   I have a large collection of reusable bags in all different materials, shapes & sizes.   He says "What?" and I repeat myself. He either really couldn't hear me, although I can be really loud, or he really didn't care. So he puts 4 2-liter bottles in 1 reusable bag. It was a bag like the blue reusable bags they sell at Market Basket, but it was my newest black American Hear

Last February I moved my courses to a permanent home in Greenland, NH. It was exciting and overwhelming all rolled into one. And it’s been a blast! I love having my own space to hold classes, scheduling has been so easy and I can accommodate last minute one-on-one classes. But I was also so nervous, I had monthly rent to pay and needed to make sure my finances were on track. I was so fortunate to be able to join forces with a colleague who is an Athletic Trainer and we co-share a double office in a small office building. We are both part-time businesses and were able to work out a great schedule that met both of our needs. I was so nervous at first that I might disappoint him if things didn’t work out for me. It has been so rewarding to discover that my classes have been popular and I’ve been busy teaching and using our classroom space.  But sadly sometimes things don’t often work out as we hope. My business is flourishing. I am so happy to be able to type that! Despite needi

This is something I rant about in classes sometimes.Okay, maybe more frequently in the summer months. In tonight's news I saw this story and I'm not sure if I'm really really angry or really really sad.  Maybe I'm a mix of both. 4 children left in hot car taken to hospital http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/4-children-in-hot-car-taken-to-hospital/-/9857858/21019918/-/itme1a/-/index.html . 4 children between the ages of 9 months and 9 years old were left in a car, in a parking lot, with the windows rolled up, for up to 15 minutes.  Thank goodness someone saw them and called 911. So often people passing by are quick to call 911 or the local police department when they see a dog left in a car in the summer.  Not as often do people call when they see a person or child sitting in a car in the warmer, or really hot, summer temperatures.  Thank goodness someone saw these kids and called. Temperatures rise quickly in a vehicle when it's warm outside.  It doesn't matt

I love getting comments on my blog. Occasionally I comment on other people's blogs. It's a good thing. Most bloggers get spam, totally off-topic comments. We all deal with it. We just delete and carry on. What gets irritating a nice valuable comments that contain links to someone else's website. When I post a comment on someone else's blog I don't put in links to my blog, website or business. It makes me come across as only posting to promote my own site. And when others folks do that on my blog it makes their perfectly good comment look like spam. And then that really nice comment never gets published. Most blog sites have a box to input your website or blog when submitting a comment. That's where your website or blog should be posted. Adding relevant on-topic links to a different website, like www.heart.org for the American Heart Association website are okay as sometimes we want to share something that ties in to the post. However several hy

I had a great question at a program I did for my local Mended Hearts chapter the other night. Can a rescuer with a pacemaker or ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) safely operate an AED? And the answer is .... Yes! When I'm short on time my go-to source for answers to questions I'm not 100% sure on is one of the online instructor forums I belong to. There are a lot of really smart and knowledgeable folks in the group. One member even did a bit of research for me and provided this great link to Daily Living with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator . She even called Medtronic to ask. I'll be updating this post when I have a chance to call them myself later today. But AED's are safe and easy to use, even if the rescuer has a pacemaker or ICD. 5/17 update: I called Medtronic, the folks who make the Lifepack 1000 AED. AED's are safe to use by rescuers with a pacemaker or ICD. They don't have anything in writing on it, but the rep on th

Here's the 2013 line up for $1 Summer Movies at Regal Cinemas. All films are on Tuesday & Wednesday beginning at 10am. I added the dates for the Newington Regal Cinema 2013 Regal Summer Movie Express http://www.regmovies.com/Movies/Summer-Movie-Express Week Title Rating Time 6/19 The Three Stooges PG 10am 6/19 Ice Age: Continental Drift PG 10am 6/25 - 6/26 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days PG 10am 6/25 - 6/26 Parental Guidance PG 10am 7/2 - 7/3 Mr. Poppers' Penguins PG 10am 7/2 - 7/3 Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked G 10am 7/9 - 7/10 Monte Carlo PG 10am 7/9 - 7/10 Rio G 10am 7/16 - 7/17 Coraline PG 10am 7/16 - 7/17 ParaNorman PG 10am 7/23 - 7/24 Dr. Seuss' The Lorax PG 10am 7/23 - 7/24 Big Miracle PG 10am 7/30 - 7/31 Yogi Bear PG 10am 7/30 - 7/31 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island PG 10am 8/6 - 8/7 Racing Stripes PG 10am 8/6 - 8/7 Happy Feet Too P

So this is the post I started on Friday, and then got busy and now here it is Monday. A few weeks ago I received an email from someone needing CPR AED certification quickly. This happens a lot for me. Sometimes deadlines or card expiration dates creep up quickly and suddenly folks realize that their certification card has expired and they either can't work or turn in their re-licensing paperwork without a valid card. The challenge was - all my upcoming classes before the date she needed it by were full. I also don't have a lot of available time. sigh My business is feast or famine, ... seriously. I'm either popular or I'm not. Since the courses lead to 2 year certification people only come looking for me once every 2 years. Right now I'm super popular. It's exciting and its overwhelming. Because not only do I run my small business; I have 4 children, a part-time job I love and a small content/writing business. Oh and I volunteer WAAAAYYYYYY too m

My business phone is my cell phone. It looks like this one: Except mine has scratches and dings in it. And a pretty wacky eclectic background. I don't always answer my phone. As a business I should try to answer it every time it rings. If you're in business and reading this you're thinking.... "she's wacked going to lose business.... why doesn't she answer her phone?". But sometimes I'm not in a good spot to answer my phone. I could be in the car driving (a not-so-secret secret: I have 4 kids, I do a lot of driving in the afternoons & evening shuttling my kids to their various activities) . I can't look up information about an upcoming class, take a course registration, or take information if I'm driving. I could be in a class. I can't talk on the phone if I'm teaching. I could be at home. I do answer the phone when I'm home, but I don't always have it in my hand or pocket. If I'm in my basement

A while back I wrote a post about my new Road ID. As I begin training for this year's race season I made sure I had my Road ID and am doing my best to remember to where it. Why do I feel that I need to wear ID when I work out? If you follow the link in my previous blog post you'll read about the bicyclist who was found unresponsive on the side of the road, with no ID. No one knew who he was for at least a day. That was a wake up call for me. I walk pretty regularly. I'm not a runner, but I began competitive race walking last year. I enjoy it and it's good exercise. Yesterday I walked on a road I'm not normally on, but had time to kill while my van was being repaired. It's a road heavily traveled by very large trucks. What would have happened if the truck swerved into the shoulder? What would have happened if I tripped and fell when traffic was heavy? I don't carry my wallet or purse when I walk. My Road ID has my information and my husba

I read a great article this morning in one of the CPR First Aid Instructor forums I belong to; Unmasking the Certification Mill Problem published in Occupational Health and Safety . This is a topic I'm pretty passionate about. Online-only CPR and First Aid certification websites are scams. They promise "nationally accepted" certification that you take in your home and you can print your card on your own printer. Unfortunately most employers and licensing boards will not accept these cards. Why? Because there is no hands-on component to the course. I did a quick search on my blog and discovered over the past 4 years I've written on this topic a few times. Starting with Online CPR First Aid courses in 2009, I've written Be wary of some online BLS courses , False CPR certification , Video or computer based training versus learning it the old fashioned way , and I received this comment... . On my Coastal CPR & First Aid Blog I've posted What is o

So I did something crazy and impulsive this morning. I signed up for a blog challenge. And it starts TODAY. Ack! I know I need to spending more time on my blogs and websites... Yeah, that's blogs plural. My primary business is teaching and it's feast or famine, I'm either popular or I'm not. The past few months I've been SUPER popular which has been great. But a lot of the fun things (blogging), and necessary things (paperwork) have begun to pile up. So I'm probably nuts to commit to this. But I learned an interesting lesson about myself recently and this challenge ties into it. I gave up cookies for Lent. Really, I did... except for the one I ate so I could evenly divide 3 cookies between 2 young children. If you have young children you know why I needed to do that. It was really hard at first. Especially since I'm a Girl Scout Leader and I've had Girl Scout cookies in my house since mid-February. So I fully expected Easter Evening t

I've always felt it was important to vote in elections and to participate in Town Meeting. This gives each of us an active role in our communities and how they are run. Today I was reminded of how important each individual voter is in the process. My town voted to approve a bond to renovate and expand our library. This is a project near and dear to me as an active library user and part-time employee in our library. In a town of only 753 residents (according to the 2010 census) we are the 16th busiest library based percentage or population using the library in the State of New Hampshire out of 234 towns. For a small town we have an active library. Today's vote represented months of work done by the library trustees to come up with a plan that allowed for the growth of our overcrowded library, but yet kept the costs in line. This has been a difficult journey. Today's vote was a ballot that required a two thirds majority to pass. Discussion was heated at times,

Click to Enlarge Image Do You know what to do when someone goes into Sudden Cardiac Arrest? Learn to Save a Life. Take A CPR/AED Class. Be the Person who can save a life. Brought To You By Health & Safety Institute For CPR AED and First Aid classes on the Seacoast visit Coastal CPR & First Aid

Last month I had a phone call I was initially really excited about. It was from an organization that provides training and continuing education resources for childcare providers.  A child care center I had taught CPR & First Aid at referred me to them.  Can I say that I absolutely without a doubt LOVE referrals?  I do, I truly do.  It means I did a good job training their staff and they're not embarrassed to admit I taught them.  Anyway the caller from this organization was thinking of trying someone new to provide classes for them. Sadly I know they will never call me back. I didn't scare them away.  At least I don't think I did.  I told them how long a CPR or First Aid class is and what is covered.  A full class is 6 hours long, but can be broken up into 2 3-hour classes.  A renewal class can be about 4-5 hours long and can also be broken up into 2 classes.  I can do really focused skills-based renewals through the American Safety & Health Institute.  I also