What Do Participants Say?

What's New?

Courses Available

Class Dates

WHAT DO PARTICIPANTS SAY?

"Excellent course!"
Vicki Lawal, Chicago, Illinois

"Course was great! Thanks so much"
LaToya Daughrity, Glenview, Illinois

"Well-organized course. Instructors are enthusiastic and personable"
Kathleen Daubach - Chicago, Illinois

"The course was fun and interesting"
Elizabeth McKinney, Aurora, Illinois

"This was my second time recertifying with L.M. Cantone & Associates. Good job!"
Theresa S. Becker -Waukesha, WI

WHAT'S NEW?

Important new recommendations were developed during the American Heart Association International Guidelines 2000 Conference in February, 2000 and during the post-conference review process. The Guidelines 2000 conference was the world’s first international conference assembled specifically to produce international resuscitation guidelines.

The guidelines confirm safety and effectiveness for many approaches, acknowledge the ineffectiveness of others and introduce new treatments that have survived intensive evidence-based evaluation. The 2000 guidelines provide the most effective and easy-to-learn resuscitation methods that current knowledge, research and experience can provide.

The changes in the CPR guidelines are aimed at simplifying training by focusing on the most effective aspects of resuscitation. These updated guidelines will enable the trained rescuer to do a better job in assisting individuals experiencing a cardiovascular emergency.

Other new recommendations include:

• Streamlining/standardizing the ratio of chest compressions to breaths during adult CPR.

• Updated recommendations for emergency medical personnel such as medication treatment protocols for heart attacks, stroke and cardiac arrest in victims of all ages.

• Simplification of CPR instruction. For example, techniques to teach management of choking (airway obstruction) in an unconscious victim have been greatly simplified. There is evidence that chest compression in CPR creates enough pressure in an unconscious patient to eject a foreign body from an airway. The use of abdominal thrusts (commonly known as the Heimlich maneuver) to clear an object from the airway of a conscious person will still be taught under the new guidelines.

See below for a comparison of the specific changes in ECC Guidelines from 1992 and 2000:

COURSES AVAILABLE:

BLS HEARTSAVER COURSE

Entry-Level CPR and First Aid for Choking

This entry-level course offers guidelines for one-rescuer adult, child, and infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The course includes information on first aid for choking. Other topics covered are:

• The Chain of Survival
• Normal heart and lung anatomy and function
• How to recognize a heart attack
• Stroke warning signs, and recommendations for prudent heart living

Intended Audience: General public, boys/girls clubs, and mass CPR training participants

Course Length: 3-1/2 to 4 hours

Student Text: Basic Life Support Heartsaver Guide: A Student Handbook for CPR and First Aid for Choking

Instructor Materials: To identify your needs, see "At-a-Glance"

Card Type: Student attendance or participation card

Written/Skills Evaluation: None

BLS HEARTSAVER PLUS COURSE

The Heartsaver Plus course is intended for lay providers who may be first responders to an emergency that requires the use of CPR and barrier devices. Heartsaver Plus covers:

• The Chain of Survival
• Early recognition of a heart attack
• Management of the victim who is experiencing a heart attack, but is not in cardiac arrest
• Rescue breathing
• One-rescuer adult CPR
• Pediatric CPR
• Management of foreign-body airway obstruction

Intended Audience: Lay responders to cardiac emergencies in the workplace or other setting outside a hospital and whose jobs require completion of a written evaluation and successful skills performance.

Student Text: Heartsaver Plus

Card Type: Course completion card

Written/Skills Evaluation: Both

HEARTSAVER AED COURSE

The Heartsaver AED course teaches the basic techniques of adult CPR and use of an automated external defibrillator. Students also learn about using barrier devices in CPR and giving first aid for choking. The course teaches how to recognize the signs of four major emergencies:

• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Cardiac Arrest
• Foreign-body airway obstruction

Intended Audience: Firefighters, police, airline personnel, security guards, other laypeople, and those who may need to respond to a cardiac emergency.

Student Text: Heartsaver AED

Card Type: Course completion card

Written/Skills Evaluation: Both

BLS HEALTHCARE PROVIDER COURSE

The BLS Healthcare Provider course is designed to meet the needs of healthcare professionals who respond to cardiac and respiratory emergencies. The content of this course includes:

• adult and pediatric CPR,
• foreign-body airway obstruction
• two-rescuer CPR

The course covers new information on barrier devices, stroke, and automated external defibrillation, including a new algorithm for use of automated external defibrillators.

Intended Audience: Healthcare providers, such as physicians, nurses, EMTs and other professionals whose jobs require completion of a written evaluation and successful skills performance.

Student Text: Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers

Card Type: Course Completion Cards

Written/Skills Evaluation: Both

PBLS COURSE

The Pediatric Basic Life Support (PBLS) Course is designed to teach anyone responsible for the care of children about:

• Hazards to which children may be exposed;
• How to make an environment safe for children;
• Basic rescue techniques such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); and
• Maneuvers for relief of foreign-body airway obstruction in infants and children.

Intended Audience: Parents, grandparents, babysitters, teachers, and anyone interested in learning resuscitation techniques for infants and children.

Course Length: Approximately 4 to 8 hours.

Student Text: Pediatric Basic Life Support

Instructors Materials: Instructor’s Manual: Pediatric Basic Life Support. Information about teaching students basic life support for infants and children and new material about airbags and auto safety seats.

Support slides for Pediatric Basic Life Support Provider’s Course or the 1994 version of boxed PBLS slides (70-1071) plus the new 1997 addendum Support Slides (for instructors who have no previous PBLS slides.

Card type: Student attendance or participation card

Written/Skills Evaluation: None

PBLS PLUS COURSE

The Pediatric Basic Life Support (PBLS) Plus Course provides instruction on the causes and prevention of injury and cardiopulmonary arrest in children and how to administer CPR and first aid for choking to infants and children. The course also contains information on the use of barrier devices and relief of obstructed airway in both a conscious and unconscious child and infant. Other topics include:

• The EMS system;
• Infant and child safety;
• Normal heart and lung anatomy and function; and
• Recommendations for prudent heart living.

Intended Audience: Childcare professionals, church/preschool workers, aquatic/amusement park workers, and other laypeople whose jobs require completion of a written evaluation and successful skills performance related to infants and children.

Course length: Approximately 4 to 5 hours.

Student Text: Pediatric Basic Life Support Plus

Instructor Materials: Instructor’s Manual: Pediatric Basic Life Support. Information about teaching students basic life support for infants and children and new material about airbags and auto safety seats.

Support slides for Pediatric Basic Life Support Provider’s Course or the 1994 version of boxed PBLS slides (70-1071) plus the new 1997 addendum Support Slides (for instructors who have no previous PBLS slides.

Card type: Course completion card

Written/Skills Evaluation: Both

Class Dates

Call 815/469-9301 to register for the class location nearest you.