By Melissa Prentice
Arizona Daily Wildcat
If you have four hours to spend, ASUA wants to teach you how to save someone's life.
Associated Students Sen. Jonathan Bierner will offer three cardiopulmonary resuscitation certification classes during October and November. Sixteen students can sign up for each of the free classes.
"CPR is something I wanted to learn because I didn't want to get in a situation where I should have known it and didn't," Bierner said. "I hate 'should haves.'" Bierner earned basic certification at the first CPR class he offered to ASUA members in September.
Jody Kosanke, a respiratory specialist at St. Mary's Hospital and an instructor for the classes, said she agrees that everyone should know CPR skills.
"Heart problems can happen to anyone, at any age," she said. "And there is nothing worse than not knowing what to do when it does happen. At least if you know CPR, you know you have done everything you could."
Kosanke said she has been able to use her CPR skills in two instances outside the hospital to help a neighbor and a customer in a store.
Students who attend the class will watch a video that outlines risks and warning signs of a heart attack and will learn techniques involved in administering one-man CPR and helping conscious and unconscious choking victims, Kosanke said.
After completing the four-hour class, students will have earned American Heart Association basic certification which is valid for two years, she said.
However, annual recertification is recommended, she said.
Students who are interested can then take a more complex class that teaches the more detailed skills involved in administering CPR to infants and children, she said.
CPR certification classes usually cost $25-40 per participant, but ASUA is able to offer free classes because the instructors are volunteering and St. Mary's Hospital is loaning the necessary equipment for the classes.
The first three classes will be held Oct. 28, Nov. 11 and Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Bierner said he will also schedule additional classes if students are interested but cannot attend one of the scheduled times.