Rio Hondo’s Continuing Education Program held a CPR and AED training course on Friday, April 11, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Room S129 taught by professor Gary Duran.

One of the benefits of attending was receiving a two-year certification card stating students have been CPR certified along with a certificate of completion from Rio Hondo College.

The course went over the basic principals to performing CPR. These steps include: checking the scene for safety, having someone phone 911, checking the wounded for any signs of life (noise, breathing, etc), and if no response is detected, perform CPR.

Mannequins were provided for all of the attendees to perform on in groups of four.

The guidelines for performing CPR are 30 compressions for every two breaths. Continue performing CPR unless one of the valuable excuses have arose: the wounded has become conscious, the paramedics have arrived, someone has arrived with the AED, and/or the person performing CPR has become overly exhausted and can no longer perform to the best of their abilities.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is the first line of action, but as soon as a personnel arrives with an AED that takes priority.

Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) training consisted of learning how to properly work the machine. The AED is designed to be functional to even the average person with no previous knowledge. Once the AED is turned on, it explains the step-by-step process from there.

Professor Duran primarily focused on training regarding CPR and the AED, but also touched on what to do if other situations occurred and what signs to look out for including situations such as heart attack, stroke, an asthma attack and someone suffering from diabetes