Advances in Mental Health

Most people love a good action movie. The leading men are heroes blasting their way through armies of bad guys and leaving chaos in their wake all for the sake of something moral and upright, or for vengeance. Usually, the movie lasts about two hours, and in the same amount of time it takes to see hundreds of lives wasted and destroyed, you can learn to save lives with CPR classes. Here is where you can find a local CPR class, and what you will learn in it.

Location and Length of the Class Dictates Price

Some CPR classes are free, while others request a fee. It all depends on where the class is held and how long the class meets. You can learn almost everything you really need to know to save someone's life in about two hours, so classes that meet for more than one session or meet for longer than two hours are more for the professionals, such as EMT's. 

The following lists places where you can find a class:

• your local hospital
• a health and fitness center (YMCA/YWCA)
• a technical or vocational school
• your city's parks and recreation department
• a nursing school
• a babysitting course
• through a CBRF/group home where you work
• other health and wellness-related facilities

Additionally, when you take a CPR class as a work-related requirement, your boss often pays for the course and pays you for your time, which may doubly benefit you.

What You Can Learn in Two Hours

Besides learning the effective techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, you will also learn the Heimlich maneuver for adults and children. The reason behind learning the Heimlich at the same time you learn CPR is that choking is the one incident which most commonly leads to loss of breath and life, and learning to do both at once aids you in certain situations where you do not know why a person is not breathing. You may or may not have to read portions of a textbook for your class, depending on where it is taught and who teaches it, but be sure to read the materials if it is required.

What It Will Cost You

Again, some classes are free. Those that teach a free class do so because they want more people to have these skills and understand that you do not charge a choking or unconscious person to save his or her life. The classes that charge a fee do so because you will need to buy a book and pay a medical professional for his or her time to teach the class. That fee ranges anywhere from fifteen dollars to over one hundred dollars, if you take the course from a technical or vocational college. Your best bet is to find a free or nearly free course, because most CPR classes all teach the same basics. 

Look for a local CPR class, such as Respond Systems Alaska.