Interns in the Field

By Taylor Reed

In our last post, Narya and I shared our experiences as summer interns in training to be instructors for the American Red Cross of Central Texas. Today, I can cheerfully tell you that I've successfully taught my first class! I've been observing other instructors for a couple of weeks, but this week I decided to throw myself out of the metaphorical nest and teach my own class. 

Outside of my work here with the American Red Cross I'm also a nanny, so I jumped at the chance to teach an evening Child & Infant CPR course. These are my favorite areas to teach not only because the information is so essential for my work as a nanny, but because I feel like I can really relate to the people who sign up for this particular course. It's usually filled with moms, dads, grandparents, brand new babysitters, and college-age nannies like myself. 

Before my class began, I was asked if we would actually get to practice CPR on a manikin in the course. My first reaction was confusion. My only experience with CPR training has been with the American Red Cross, and I really feel that the emphasis on practice is what makes our training great. I had no idea that CPR training is completely unregulated in the state of Texas, and I honestly never thought CPR could be taught without practice!  I realize that there are lots of different ways that people can learn, but I'm glad that my students agreed with me that practice makes perfect. I could see each of them grow in confidence as we practiced the skills throughout the course. I was really proud that all of the participants were successful and confident of their ability to perform CPR by the end of the course. 

As I left the chapter that night, I thought of how thankful I was to be able to teach an effective class and that the American Red Cross had equipped me with the skills to save a life. I hope that no one from my class ever needs to use their training, but if they do, I'll be right there with them because of the class we shared.

Register Now to take a CPR class with an instructor like me and make your community safer!