The CPR Learning Center

Community education programs improve resilience

At The CPR Learning Center we know ,the first step to empowerment is to understand the realities of the world we live in and the limitations of the system we work under. When 70 percent of the public sees their only contribution to disaster response as making a 9-1-1 call, we have missed an opportunity to activate our public. By educating bystanders to become First Care Providers, we create a broad network of potential force multipliers that can improve operational effectiveness in a dynamic threat situation the same way CPR and AED training has worked for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Although unlike cardiac arrest, there is little or no role for CPR in active violence events.

Further, community education programs improve resilience by providing a framework for not only treating those injured in a disaster, but becoming the conduit between departments and their public. If any good can come out of the recent disasters, it is that now we know people are going to respond to the injured. Instead of calling 9-1-1 and waiting, trained First Care Providers can begin stabilizing and evacuating victims, saving lives and time before first responders arrive. This allows patrol and SWAT officers to concentrate on the threat at hand. But beyond improving efficiency, in a world looking for answers, we have an opportunity to empower our public to be part of the solution.