There is a World of Difference between Wanting to Help
and Being Able to Help

I used my Red Cross preparedness skills to help in two emergencies...

By Red Cross Volunteer Anne-Marie Marion

I was very lucky on September 11, 2001. I was safe and I did not know anyone directly who was lost or injured that day. Like many others, I walked home from work. As I was crossing the bridge that day into Queens, I become keenly aware that I work on an island and the bridge became much less a routine bit of infrastructure and more of a critical lifeline.

Soon, the topic of emergency preparedness was everywhere. I signed up right away for the American Red Cross course called Preparing for the Unexpected. It was something proactive to do in a time of such uncertainty. While everyone was undoubtedly there because of the terrorist attacks, the class very calmly presented basic survival skills to use in lots of different kinds of emergencies. It was a starting point to think in a different way and to incorporate survival skills into everyday life.

Recently, I took the combined CPR/AED and Standard First Aid Training course, which was conveniently made available by the Red Cross on-site in my office building. During the training, someone mentioned that he had heard once you were trained, you find yourself in situations where those skills are needed. Within two weeks of training, I found myself in two medical emergency situations where I was able to offer assistance as a result of having taken the course.

One night while home, I heard a car crash outside. I called 911 while viewing the scene from a window. There were many passers-by already stopping. Prior to taking the course, I would not have taken any further action under these circumstances. I would have assumed that there were already enough people involved and would not have wanted to be another "do-gooder" in the way.

Because of the First Aid course, I had the confidence and felt the responsibility to go to the scene. What I discovered was that while there were already a lot of people there and they were all pedestrian rubber-neckers. There was a woman with back pain sitting in the car that had been broadsided. There wasn't much I could do for her, except to try to make her a little calmer by telling her that the EMS workers would be better able to help her if she were calmer and to assure her that help was on the way, and that I would stay with her until they arrived.

A few days later, a man had tripped and fell hard into an elevator frame in my office building. When I saw him, he was already lying on the floor for several minutes, and none of the people attending him had called for EMS. I spoke to the man while he was still lying down and he suggested that he should try to walk around, although I convinced him that since he had hit his head so hard he should remain lying down and that we should call an ambulance. An ambulance might not have been called had I not stepped in, which I believe would have been a mistake.

After these events, I was sorry that I had not taken First Aid training earlier. There is a world of difference between wanting to help and being able to help.

Lightning Can Strike Twice

By Red Cross Volunteer
Santiago Vazquez

My name is Santiago Vazquez. I am the Director of an after school program called Kids Clubhouse in Brooklyn. Like many of you , I had always intended to do my CPR training, someday. But life gets busy, doesn't it?

After reading an e-mail from my organization about a Red Cross CPR class, I started thinking about a night out with three friends in Spain last summer when a man in a restaurant fell to the ground and appeared to be choking. My friend Juan ran to his side while my other friends and I stood there and watched. He kneeled by the man's side, talked to him, and monitored his breathing and pulse. He knew what to do because he was CPR certified. Eventually, paramedics arrived and we cleared out. It turned out that the man was suffering from a stroke.

Jake and I had flown to Spain to attend a friend's funeral a few days before. We had felt helpless and in honor of our deceased friend, we vowed to get CPR certified. Next time we were offered the chance to save a life, we would take it. I took the Red Cross class last fall and was glad to have kept my promise. However, I left the room certain that I would never use the skills I had just learned. After all, lightning never strikes twice.

Fast forward to February 11, 2004. As the 5:30 dismissal from the school cafeteria begins to wind down, I notice that a member of my staff is yelling for help. I can see that six-year old Brandon appears to be choking. Because I left that Red Cross training confident in my ability, I ran to him, observed that he was indeed choking, asked him to relax, and performed the abdominal thrust . A hard candy came flying out of his mouth. I thought I was done, but he was still choking. I repeated the procedure, and after a few moments, another hard candy hit the floor. I knew what to do because I had attended that training. If I had not, that boy may very well have died there in the cafeteria that day.

Education is a highly rewarding field in which to work, yet I have never felt more proud. So if you have not registered for Red Cross training in which you, too, will learn lifesaving skills, I must very respectfully ask you a question. What are you waiting for?

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Kids ClubHouse in Brooklyn is sponsored by the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation. Our primary funder, The After School Corporation, requires all of its program directors to receive CPR/Emergency Rescue training.