Hospital Offers Basic Life Support Course

for Healthcare Providers

ROME – A two-day Basic Life Support course for healthcare providers will be held Wednesday, August 4, and Friday, August 6, at Rome Memorial Hospital. The class, which will start at 1 p.m. each day in the classroom and end at 4 p.m., will be taught by Community Educator and Volunteer Coordinator Miranda Von Matt, BS. Von Matt is a BLS instructor for the American Heart Association.

Required to attend both sessions, participants will learn how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on adult, child and infant victims of cardiac emergencies. In addition, they will learn the skills to clear an obstructed airway.

The course is designed for healthcare professionals, including nurses, emergency medical technicians, respiratory therapists, and nursing assistants. It is the class required for many healthcare students to complete before entering college.

Heart attacks claim more than 500,000 lives nationwide. About 67 percent of those lives are lost before the victims ever reach a hospital.

“CPR performed properly and promptly can save lives,” said Von Matt. “In places where many people in the community know CPR and where there is a quick response by trained paramedics, 40 percent of victims of ventricular fibrillation may be successfully resuscitated.” Ventricular fibrillation is an uneven, chaotic movement of the heart muscle.

“No special equipment is required in order to perform CPR or Basic Life Support, and both can easily be learned,” Von Matt said. Students will also learn how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).

Class size is limited. The fee is $12 for employees of Rome Memorial Hospital and $35 for non-employees and includes a course book and card. To register, please contact the hospital’s Education Department at 338-7143 by Friday, July 30. Advanced payment is required.