Red Cross holds biggest CPR training

More than 90 people, mostly students, participated in the four-hour Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training sponsored by the American Red Cross NMI Chapter yesterday at Fiesta Resort and Spa’s Hibiscus Room.

Health care providers, security guards, hotel employees, and community members also joined in the program called American Red Cross Super CPR Saturday.

After the training, the participants were given CPR certifications that are good for one year.

Health and safety instructor Glenn Policare told Saipan Tribune that they are very happy because it was one of the biggest classes they have had on the island.

Students were charged only $2 each, while community members were charged $5 each.

“We try to make this as affordable as possible. Our goal for this particular class is to get as many people certified as possible, give people a chance to get out there and help out,” Policare said.

He said the participants were made to undergo an adult CPR class.

Policare said the classes were broken to three different sections—with one session called recognition and response. Under this session, he explained, people learned to recognize the different emergencies and situations that they may encounter in the community.

“We talked about breathing emergencies, how to help people who are having trouble breathing. And most importantly at the end we taught them how to recognize people that are having a heart attack and if someone does have heart attack, what they can do to help before the ambulance arrives,” he said.

The instructor, however, stressed that CPR alone is sometimes not enough to bring people back.

He cited that in the recent case of former CNMI national basketball player Rick Alegre who died in the basketball court, had somebody started CPR early, he would have had a better chance of surviving.

Policare said he doesn’t know if Alegre would have regained consciousness.

“But he definitely would have had a better chance if somebody had responded prior to EMS [emergency management technicians] arriving,” he pointed out.

“CPR is a very basic and simple skill. It’s a three to four-hour class. Red Cross does them on a monthly basis. It is open to anybody that wants to come. People just have to be willing to help out in emergencies,” he added.

One of the participants, Janel Villegas, brought her son Daniel and daughter Lakell to the seminar.

Villegas said her family has been doing a lot of volunteering work in the community particularly in sports and education so they decided to get CPR skills.

“We just do many things outside in helping people in sports and education. It would be good to have the skills,” Villegas said. “I had taken it [CPR class] several years ago in the states. It was a great refresher course. Things change. You forget a lot so it’s really good,” she said.

Daniel Villegas, 17, said he learned CPR from boys scouting, but that he is excited because it was the first time he has gotten certified.

For 13-year-old Lakell Villegas, she feels good because she will now have more opportunity to help people.

“I learned a lot of things that I haven’t learned before,” she said.