In partnership with County Ambulance, Berkshire Community College is holding a course on lifesaving skills at its main Pittsfield, Massachusetts campus on Saturday. The subject got renewed attention last month when Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field but was saved by quick-acting responders. Trainings will be offered in adult and child CPR, defibrillator use, how to stop a bleeding wound, Narcan application, basic first aid, and more. Tiffany Moreno is the Instructional Program Manager for Health & Wellness at BCC. She tells WAMC anyone can save a life with the right training.
MORENO: We just think it's really important for everyone in the community to know how to do CPR. I mean, if you're at a family event, once the summer and spring hits, everybody's at the lake, somebody starts drowning, it's good to know how to perform CPR. And those brief moments in someone's life can literally save it. So, we want to promote this. We really want the community to be able to- Sometimes if you're living in a rural, remote area, you know, it'll take a little bit of time for the ambulance to get to you. And if you can start performing CPR before the ambulance gets to you, it highly increases the person's chance of survival. And that's huge. So, we want to make sure that everyone in the community can perform this.
WAMC: The class also includes Narcan training, the drug that can reverse opiate overdoses. Talk to us about that.
So, we know that Berkshire County does have a little bit of a problem with some drug addiction, and to be able to have the knowledge on how to administer Narcan to bring someone back to life is highly important. The specifics on how to perform Narcan obviously are going to be done in the classroom. We're also going to be providing Stop the Bleed training. So, let's say you're working in construction and you cut your finger off. We'll teach you how to stop the bleed until the ambulance can get there. Let's say you're at home cooking something and you accidentally cut your finger or whatever might happen at home. You know, we know accidents can happen anywhere. We can teach you how to stop the bleed for that as well.
I can imagine that some folks think this kind of stuff is either unnecessary or too challenging or something that they maybe won't expect to have to do in their day-to-day lives. What do you say to folks who maybe don't consider this sort of training necessary?
Chances of you having to use it are very slim, yes. However, would you not rather be prepared in case you are face to face with a loved one who might be in a crisis moment? And wouldn’t you love to have the knowledge to be able to save that loved one's life? That's how I look at it. I mean, you're going to be with your kids, your grandkids, spring and summer are coming around the corner, everybody loves to go to the lake. And people love to go skiing, and they love to go hiking and you know, things can happen. A lot of times, these things are out of our control. And this is a small portion that we can control. Why not have the knowledge even if you don't need it?
Is there anything about this class I've not thought to ask you [that] you want to make sure folks understand?
It's really necessary. And you know, you can be whatever age range. There is no age limit to being able to take this class. So, whether you're just out of high school or you are retired and you just want to have this knowledge in your back pocket, it's great to have. The certification is good for the next two years. So, you can have it for a long time. And you can decide from there if you want to renew it. And if, you know, god forbid something does happen and you use it, you can say to yourself, oh my god, I'm so glad that I took this class. Let me go ahead and renew that certification.
Are there professional contexts in which that certification can be helpful?
Yeah. So, if you are working and you're interested in starting in like paramedic or something, at least having the CPR, first aid training to kind of get you a little bit into that step. It's always good to have an any range, anytime you're dealing with people in general. it's always a good training to have CPR, first aid, Stop the Bleed, Narcan, because you never know what can potentially happen.
