FINDLAY, Ohio — The Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay will begin offering some potentially life-saving lessons for young babysitters starting Tuesday.
The HeartSaver pediatric course from the Blanchard Valley Health System is open to the public as a $45 four-hour class. BVHS simulation and clinical education coordinator Jason Brunswick said it is designed specifically for younger babysitters but can be beneficial to anyone who is regularly taking care of young children.
"You don't necessarily need to have them, but it's reassuring as a parent myself that they have them," Brunswick said. "What we're teaching is essentially what they need to do in those first few minutes before medical professionals arrive."
The course will also explain the differences between administering CPR to an adult and to a much smaller child. Experts will also cover many first aid skills that may be needed to tend to an injured child such as "medical emergencies, bites, stings, injuries, bleeding, how to control bleeding and some basic first aid stuff," Brunswick said.
Participants will also be familiarized with how to use AEDs -- automated external defibrillators -- as well.
BVHS leaders say these skills are not needed to legally take care of small children but could mean the difference between life and death if there is an emergency.
"This is a skill necessary to have, but hopefully never need to use," Blair Leader, the BVHS Emergency Room administrative coordinator, said.
Brunswick said the education in the course will prepare people for the proper procedures during situations that be very stressful.
"The stakes always seem higher with kids, anxiety is always going to be high," Brunswick said. "But what we're going to teach is if something happens, they know exactly how to react based on the training that they had so they can stay calm in the situation and perform appropriately."
Upon completing the class, each participant will receive a two-year CPR certification and will be able to take home a CPR pocket mask for mouth-to-mouth.
The first round of classes begins on Tuesday and Friday, with more classes scheduled through July.
You can sign up online up to 24 hours in advance.