Madison Kwiecinski – Editor-in-Chief 

Mvk5945@psu.edu 

Penn State Behrend is offering students a unique and free opportunity to gain a valuable, and arguably life-saving, new skill. Behrend students may take a free two-hour course in order to receive their CPR-BLS certification free of charge. 

Many students across a variety of majors can benefit from this experience, regardless of whether or not you plan to enter a medical based field. For example, a CPR-BLS certification is a unique resume quality for education majors as schools may appreciate knowing someone on staff is qualified to handle emergency situations if they arise. This is obviously not limited to education majors, as accidents and emergencies can occur in every field and numerous types of employers may appreciate having someone on staff capable of handling the situation. 

According to the American Red Cross website, “Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers [BLS] uses a scenario-based approach to develop the critical thinking and problem solving skills that drive better patient outcomes.” 

Their site also mentioned that BLS certifications covers how to handle breathing and cardiac emergencies, as well as how to perform CPR and handle obstructed airways on adults, children, and infants. 

The version of this program being offered at Behrend is the American Heart Association Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation [CPR] Basic Life Support [BLS] Course. When students complete the course, they will receive a BLS Provider Course Completion Card, which is valid for two years. 

These events are being hosted through the Health and Wellness Center in partnership with the American Heart Association. The events are currently funded for the spring semester through Student Activity Fee [SAF] funding. Therefore, it is not guaranteed this certification will be free of charge on-campus after this semester, so students should take advantage of their ability to receive this certification now. 

For faculty and staff at Behrend who may be interested in this program, right now is currently also a great time for you to take advantage of this programming and receive your certification. As the course is funded by the Student Activity Fee it is not entirely free to faculty and staff, but it is being offered at the very low cost of $5.00. The fee for faculty and staff is charged in order to cover the cost of providing the certification card, and can be paid through cash or check when you go to take the course. 

Nathaniel Clark, a Behrend student who is majoring in Secondary Education English took the CPR-BLS certification course and stated, “I feel like it was an excellent use of only two hours of my time. My old CPR certification had expired earlier this year so these classes showed up at an excellent time.” 

The course runs for two hours, and class size for these events is limited to six people per course. If students have a group of six or more who would like to take the class at one, Health and Wellness can be contacted at 814-898-6217 to schedule a session for your group. 

When asked about what the course itself was like Clark stated, “We used a variety of videos and demonstrations on various CPR dolls. Learning how to take care of infants during a crisis was knowledge I did not previously have.” 

There are many other dates also already scheduled for the course to be offered this semester. The next available course will be Thursday March 2 at 2:30 p.m. in Reed 114. On Monday March 6, two sessions will be offered, one at 8:30 a.m. and one at 11 a.m. Another course is offered on March 7 at 2:30 p.m. and on March 9 at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The final course currently posted on BehrendSync is for March 13 at 4:30 p.m., though students should look out for more sessions throughout the semester and remember they are also able to schedule their own by contacting Health and Wellness.

When Clark was asked about whether this was a program he would recommend to other behrend students he stated, “Most definitely. In two hours time, you can get a certificate that can easily boost your resume above the rest. Additionally, everyone should know how to deliver proper CPR.”