I was signed up by my company to attend a first aid course taught by this company's CEO, Dr. Roman Matthews. My supervisor specifically told him that I had taken the CPR course already, and that I would only be going for the First Aid course. I was told to be there at 9:30am on a Saturday.
The good doctor arrives after 10am and seems to make a beeline to my co-worker and I. After a friendly introduction, he strangely asks us under his breath to help him set up. Confused, I followed him, and he asked, "you don't mind helping, right"? I replied, "Sure, I just thought it was kinda weird for you to ask". He then goes into this diatribe about wanting to only teach people that were willing to help others! Mind you, he didn't ask any of the other 20 people there for help. His tone was very condescending and disrespectful. He seemed to make grand assumptions about who my co-worker and I were. I had to ask him if there was going to be some problem with today's course, and he said no.
As he and his assistant are setting up (well past the scheduled start time btw), I notice they are setting up for CPR first. I pull him to the side in a very friendly way and asked if we could do First Aid first since that's what I was there for. He admitted to speaking to my supervisor himself when scheduling me, but did not remember my supervisor telling him that I already took CPR. Oddly, he strongly encouraged me to stay for the CPR course even though I had just completed it a week ago. I even showed him my certificate. He said he would consider doing First Aid first, but "had to check" with someone first.
As time goes on and they continue to set up, I see him avoiding eye contact with me. I approach him and ask if he is able to do First Aid first, and he says no because "it's not what's best for the group". I asked if anyone was there for CPR only to which he stated no. He never gave an explanation as to how this would be best for the group. He then instructed me to just come back 3-4 hours later which would mean I would have to kill that time (and likely spend money) in the area since I live 45 min. away from the site he was running his course at.
In summary, this person appears to have some severe ego complex. My co-worker, who stayed for both trainings, reported to me that he was acting very oddly throughout the training, and had made her do things unnecessary for either CPR or First Aid certification. I would definitely recommend you stay very far away from Dr. Roman Matthews and his company. read more