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‘You don’t have to take a first aid course to learn CPR’, says local firefighter

October 29, 2020   ·   0 Comments

Written By PAULA BROWN

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

CPR is a life skill that Savannah Rogers, owner of Rural Rescue First Aid Training in Mulmur, says she believes everyone should have, and so she’s now demonstrating it virtually. 

“In my mind this isn’t secret information, you don’t have to take a first aid course to know how to do CPR or to initiate 9-1-1,” said Rogers, who is also a firefighter. “We thought let’s go live and see if we can get some of our local residents involved.” 

Rural Rescue, a Red Cross training partner for first aid and launched in 2018, held a free virtual CPR demonstration last Monday (Oct.26). Seeing less in-person participants, compared to last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic Rogers said they were “feeling the distance” and decided to organize a virtual CPR demonstration.  

In the 20 minute virtual CPR demonstration Rogers covered scene safety, from approaching a scene, to assessing a patient, and calling 9-1-1. The demonstration, although not an official course that gives CPR certification, also showed participants how to do chest compression and addressed defibrillators, which Rogers said does not need training to be used. 

“We are actually seeing families or just people around us that are actually buying their own defibrillators,” said Rogers. 

With COVID-19 restrictions first aid and CPR training has changed, with instructors now teaching aspects like putting a mask on a patient and how to wear your own face mask properly, something that Rogers said eight months ago they wouldn’t have talked about. 

Rural Rescue’s virtual CPR demonstration was live on Facebook, and Instagram seeing 120 people take part through Facebook Live while 15 tuned in through Instagram.  

Speaking to the virtual platform of the demonstration Rogers said, “I want to give our community, Dufferin County and surrounding areas the confidence to understand that these are not scary, obviously, they can be scary, but they’re not overwhelming things.” 

Adding she noted that in cases of emergencies in rural areas, response time can be “significantly longer” than it would be in the city. 

Rural Rescue is working to have similar virtual demonstrations in the future with Rogers planning a video to go out on YouTube in the next couple months, on baby safety and chocking. 

For more info on their first aid and CPR courses go to www.ruralrescuetraining.com. 



         

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