CULLMAN, Ala. – The Bethsadia Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday, July 23 will provide a Basic Life Support (BLS) certification class. The class will start at 8 a.m. at the station located at 454 County Road 804 in Cullman. The class is designed with health care professionals in mind, but any members of the public are welcome to attend. The fee is $10 for fire department members and $40 for nonmembers.
Instructor and Assistant Chief Maurice Reynolds discussed the difference in BLS training made specifically for health care providers and regular CPR.
“There are two versions. One is Health Care Provider that’s for anybody in the fire department, any medical- your doctors’ offices, your dentist, anybody that has patient contact,” he said. “There’s another version called Heart Saver and it’s for the general public.”
The class will be health care provider specific, which requires participants to pass a test after the course.
For many professionals who are not in the health care field, it is useful to be certified in BLS techniques. For professionals such as teachers, childcare providers, sports coaches, personal trainers and safety officers, it is either necessary or preferred for them to be trained in CPR. Even if BLS certification in not necessary in non-medical fields, it can be a valuable qualification to make resumes stand out to prospective employers.
The course is mainly provided to help county fire fighters renew their required training, said Reynolds, “We have a lot of people at the fire departments that this is required for every two years.”
However, Reynolds said he would like to invite anyone in the community who would like to receive the training to attend. The cost of the class is to help offset the costs of the mannequins, which Reynolds said cost about $1,500 per four sets.
“I’d like to have a full class,” he said. “We can handle 16. We’ve got eight sets of mannequins so that’s two per mannequin.”
Reynolds would prefer individuals register either through the department’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BethsadiaVFD or via email at bethsadia18@gmail.com.
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