By Marta Rusek

CPR & AED Awareness Week is June 1 to 7, 2021 in the United States. Knowing how to help someone experiencing cardiac distress is a pretty compelling reason for everyone to head to the American Red Cross website and sign up for a CPR class.

CPR/AED/First Aid classes are just a few hours out of your life so that someday you can save someone else’s, and it’s never been more important to be ready for that possibility. Americans are more stressed than ever, from anxiety around COVID-19 to social distancing with family 24/7 (parents, you deserve a medal and a $10,000 credit to the vacation destination of your choice) to wondering what’s going to happen next on Mare of Easttown. Our hearts have never been asked to handle more.

Even so, you might be thinking, “But Marta, I barely go outside now – when will I ever have the need to know this stuff?” A good question you ask. As we recalibrate our hopes and dreams in the aftermath of the dumpster fire that has been the past 15 months, here are some hypothetical scenarios that may inspire you to get your CPR/AED learning on with the Red Cross. 

• You are a high school student, and you just got your driver’s license. You want to save up to get a car so you can bask in the glory of driving your friends to school each day and to make midnight runs to Wawa. You’re great with little kids, and all the families in your neighborhood are looking for reliable childcare now that pandemic restrictions have eased and date nights can resume. One stipulation that keeps coming up – their dream sitter must be first aid and CPR-certified. You remember that the Red Cross offers a Babysitting Class that offers first aid and CPR certification as well. You sign up on the website, and a few weeks later, you’re the most in-demand babysitter in town!

• You’re at a wedding reception. There’s a super cute guest who keeps looking over at you. You’re thinking about how to approach them (telling them the story behind your Steve Miller Band tattoo seems like a good ice-breaker), when suddenly someone screams. You look in the direction of the scream and see a man seated at a table next to the dance floor, grabbing his chest. He’s in cardiac distress. You grab the nearest defibrillator, let him know you’re ready to use it thanks to your AED training from the Red Cross, and ask him if you can render assistance. He nods, and you spring into action. After you help him and wait for paramedics to arrive, the object of your affection rushes to his side – you’ve just saved their dad! And now you have an amazing “how we met” story to share when you two get married a few years from now!

• Flash forward many years, to the night you’re having dinner with your family to celebrate your 75th birthday. As one of your kids concludes their toast, you feel a tightness in your chest. You can’t breathe. Your family asks if there’s anyone who knows CPR. Suddenly, a mysterious stranger in skinny jeans approaches and offers to help. Though you’re feeling hazy, you can’t help but think you know them somehow. Moments later, the stranger has saved your life and medical help has arrived. The stranger leans down and whispers, “I’m glad you made us take that CPR class at the Red Cross.” You look down at their wrist and see a Steve Miller Band tattoo. Time travel is real!

If being a high-quality babysitter, the world’s eligible wedding guest, or a CPR-certified time traveler aren’t enough to convince you to learn CPR/AED techniques, consider this – 70% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen at home. The pandemic may be going away, but the need to look out for the people we love in our homes will always be there. 

So do yourself (and your future self) a favor – visit RedCross.org/take-a-class to get certified in first aid, CPR, and AED now.

Primary image description: a graphic design for CPR & AED Awareness Week. Two white icons, one of a person performing chest compressions and a heart with a lighting bolt in the center, appear on a red background with the words: “Train for the moments that matter.”