You’re 30,000 feet in the air and the passenger next to you has a heart attack. Or you’re at a party enjoying the hors d’oeuvre when another guest chokes on her bacon-wrapped scallop, or your child falls on the playground is bleeding profusely. What do you do?
If you got your first aid or CPR certification from Red Cross trainer Barbara LaRonde, you just may save a life.
LaRonde teaches first aid and emergency lifesaving techniques to both medical personnel and to lay people on St. Thomas as part of the Red Cross outreach.
“Since 1984 I’ve been in some capacity sharing this” knowledge, she said. A former military nurse, she returned to St. Thomas eight years ago and began to share her skills here.
“This is home. This is me giving back to my community,” she said.
For the last four years, she’s been a principal trainer with the Red Cross. The organization offers courses in a number of health and safety areas, including swimming and water safety.
On Saturday the Red Cross will offer courses open to the public on both St. Thomas and St. Croix. Classes will be in first aid, CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED.) Participants will learn to use an AED, to perform CPR and to respond to a variety of other emergencies, such as controlling bleeding, what to do if someone is choking, and what to do if a person is having a seizure or a stroke.
Marilu Rodriguez Soto, the health and safety administrator/coordinator for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, said the Red Cross has trained 247 in the Virgin Islands so far this fiscal year, which started July 1. The group has offered health certification courses in the territory for many years.
LaRonde said she trains many people who need certification – or recertification – because of their jobs, including doctors and nurses, fire fighters and day care center workers.
“Last year, I certified several teachers in both public high schools” on St. Thomas, she said. “Last week I trained the marshals.”
She’s also provided training for staff at some businesses. How many? “Not enough,” she said, adding she has certified workers at about five St. Thomas companies since January.
“I tell them it’s all about me,” she said, since you never know who may be nearby when you have an emergency. “I don’t want anybody to not be able to save me.”
Recently LaRonde lobbied to bring first aid training to Estate Bordeaux farmers, who live and work in remote areas on the island’s west end.
“That community is out of reach,” because many members live where there are no passable roads so they have an especially serious need for training, she said.
She’d like to see more people take the training because they want to learn, but many take it because it’s required.
The American Red Cross courses call for recertification every two years.
“Being re-certified keeps you practicing the skill,” LaRonde said. “It also keeps you up to date.”
Techniques change as the medical community learns more about how the body responds. For instance, the standard for administering CPR used to be 15 compressions to one breath; now it’s 30 compressions and then two breaths, she said. Back blows for a choking victim went out of vogue for many years because of the risk of damage, but they are back because research has shown they do more good than harm, when used in conjunction with the Heimlich maneuver.
“A lot of people come to class because they have to,” LaRonde said. They feel they already know and recertification is a waste of time, but often they decide otherwise. “I take a lot of pride in them saying ‘I’m glad I came.’ “
Training takes a full day and participants must register beforehand.
Saturday’s course will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 8000 Nisky Center, Suite 2225 on St. Thomas and at Donald P. Gerrits Memorial Red Cross Center, 6035 Castle Coakley in Christiansted, St. Croix. Those interested can register or get more information, including the cost by going online to www.redcross.org/takeaclass, or calling 1-800-REDCROSS, or the USVI Chapter offices at 774-0375 for St. Thomas or 778-5104 for St. Croix.