CPR certification event breaks county record
A thousand people certified for CPR in the Spectrum on Wednesday.
Kelly Turner, public relations officer for the American Red Cross, said the motivation behind certifying all those people at once was, “to try and encourage people in Cache Valley to prepare for an emergency now and this was a fun way to do that.”
This event was organized partly in an attempt to beat the world record for the most CPR certifications in one day. The current record was set at 2,121 people in July 2002 in Los Angeles at Berando Middle School. Although the world record wasn’t broken, the attempt did beat the Cache County record.
Turner said, “We didn’t beat the record but that is still 1,000 people more certified than before and I am really happy to see everyone come out.”
Certification training began at 6 p.m. Wednesday night. Those certifying included USU students, residents from the community, Scouts and many others.
Participants watched several video clips that gave instructions on what to do in emergency situations when CPR and similar care was needed. After reviews and question-and-answer sessions with instructors, certifiers went to the floor and practiced their skills on dummies, then completed a written test. The class lasted a little over two hours.
Most of the people certifying needed to be CPR certified for various reasons and this was a great time to take advantage of discounts that ranged from 50 to 90 percent.
Mallorie Nawyn, a freshman majoring in nursing, participated.
“In the field I am going into I needed it anyway and I wanted to support USU breaking the record,” Nawyn said.
After certifying, Nawyn said, she is better able to help in a situation if someone was hurt.
“I feel like I could step in and do something,” she said.
Utah State University and the Cache County American Red Cross organized the certification. About 200 volunteers, including instructors, helped out.
USU’s President’s Ambassadors put a lot of time into preparing the event, participating in weekly meetings for several months.
Ashley Murray, a sophomore majoring in public relations, volunteered with the certifications.
Murray said her marketing and human resources group volunteered to help the ambassadors as part of a project. Her group has been working on the project from the start of the semester.
“Looking back there’s always things you can do to make things run more smooth, but all in all it was awesome,”Murray said.
Anyone who wasn’t able to make it to the Spectrum on Wednesday to certify can call American Red Cross. This was not just a one-time thing, Turner said, people can call any time to sign up for adult CPR or other classes offered.
The certification was part of the Cache County Emergency Preparedness Week.
Events still to come include a benefit concert on campus Friday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., and a 5K and 10K run and mile walk on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Red Cross facility at 115 N. 200 East.
-gmblake@cc.usu.edu