To be perfectly honest, I did not want to attend the CPR class I was halfway dragged to. I thought it was going to be extremely boring, way too long, and since I'd already taken one about a decade ago, I felt like I was good to go and didn't need the class. I sat down in my seat with a huff, my goal just to survive the next three hours.
Spoiler alert.... not only did I survive, I LOVED the class. In fact, I wanted to go around round on the practice dummy. I left feeling confident, capable, and most of all, grateful. This was entirely because of Julie, who not only owns CPR Rescue Training Services, but who donated her afternoon to teach me and everyone in my church about CPR.
My first impression of Julie was that she was intensely focused, driven, and authoritative as she sat everyone down, had them sign in, and, for those of us who wanted certification cards, pay for them. She was highly efficient, almost to the point where I was worried she'd be barking orders at us the whole time.
However, I realized after the class began that Julie wasn't this dictatorial event leader, but a truly caring woman who'd been working in the EMT/CPR world for over thirty years and just had that "everyone listen to me before we start because I need everything in order" work ethic that is so admirable. I felt badly for thinking she was overly forceful because her ability to get over forty people to not only pay attention but actually learn something is highly commendable. This is the kind of instructor you want. You don't want some wallflower who walks in and asks everyone to take their seats in a quiet voice, you want the strong woman who barges in, gets everything squared away in under five minutes, and then addresses the room assuredly and holds their attention the entire time. This is Julie.
Throughout the class, Julie made sure to add funny little quips and amusing advice while teaching us how to save lives. My personal favorite was when she reminded us that just because the CPR dummy was on a table did not mean we were supposed to heave a choking victim onto a table before beginning CPR. I think I was laughing for thirty seconds over that, because the visual was just so striking. She had plenty of sentences like that, that were funny in the moment, but, as I reflected on them later at home, were also very effective, because I remembered the lessons. I've always felt that people who use humor, who make others laugh while teaching them manage to ingrain knowledge into students better than those who try to be overly serious.
Julie was serious when it mattered, though. It was very evident how personal this class was to her, how much teaching CPR meant to her. She never made light of dangerous situations, and in fact, frequently brought up terrible events in ger own life and career as examples and while some were painful to listen to, they were just as important as the funny bits, to remind us why we were all there. Not just to have fun, but to learn. And she melded the two better than any college professor I've ever had.
Her instructions when it came to the practical applications portion were concise and easy to follow. I appreciated that she never raised her voice or got annoyed when someone did something incorrectly. Her calm, "do it this way" demeanor during our drills helped everyone to stay calm and do a better job than if she'd been a drill sergeant like I have seen others teaching safety classes be. Knowing when to be a firm leader and when to be a gentle leader is an incredibly important skill, and Julie is a master.
I would recommend Julie and her CPR Rescue Training Services to anyone interested in taking a CPR course. Not only will you walk away smiling and chuckling, but more importantly, you'll walk away feeling like if you were ever out to dinner and saw someone choking you could render aid without looking like an idiot or being useless. And that is a great feeling. Thank you, Julie. read more
