Last weekend my wife and I took a first aid certification class because you never know when a situation might come up when first aid is needed. We were introduced to all the techniques you would think we’d be introduced to: CPR, bandaging wounds, treating shock, helping choking victims, etc. At the end of the class, we were told we were now “first aid trained” and the “certification” would last for two years.

All well and good, but I don’t feel particularly trained, or not trained enough to qualify as someone who in an emergency can say “I’m trained in first aid, let me handle this.” I’m hopeful that I could rise to the occasion if one presents itself. I hope even more that occasion never comes.


Category: Espresso

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10 Responses to I don’t feel certified

  1. Oscar Gordon says:

    Join your local CERT team, you’ll get more practice.

  2. fillyjonk says:

    We had to do something called NIMS training (some kind of .gov thing). This “certified” us to be “safe” to respond in a disaster (e.g., big earthquake, tornado, campus shooting).

    I remember almost none of it other than that the impression that they really, really love titles like “incident commander” and such. I figure I have common sense: in an emergency, I’ll use THAT instead of trying to remember the training. They can sue me later if they want to.

  3. Jaybird says:

    Substitute “grown-up” for “certified” and that’s how I felt when I:

    1. Graduated College
    2. Got Married
    3. Bought a House

    I think that the secret is not whether you feel certified but how certified you are in comparison to people who watched a House marathon once.

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