My name is Debra Henry. I took a first aid course through Alert First Aid in March 2013 as part of certification as an early childhood educator. CPR was covered as part of the course.

People never think they’re going to be called upon to use CPR, but I was.

My husband had a cardiac arrest at 1:30 in the morning May 18th. He had a cardiac arrhythmia while sleeping. Luckily, I was awake and noticed his body jerk. I went into rescue mode when he wouldn’t wake up, remembering the training I took at Alert First Aid. Being alone with my husband made it very scary, but the practice your courses provided meant I knew how to give chest compressions.

I phoned 911 on our portable and put it on speaker mode while I continued CPR. I was relieved when the first responders arrived and then the ambulance. They took over, using chest compressions then a defibrillator to restore my husband’s heart beat. My husband went into cardiac triple bypass surgery this Monday. I expect him to come home this weekend and make a full recovery.

Thank you for what your team does–help save lives. CPR is so easy, but I suspect I might have frozen in the moment and been a bystander until the ambulance arrived had I not been trained by you.

Being prepared makes all the difference. My husband is a runner and cyclist and we’d just biked 80 km the day before his cardiac arrest. He had no warning signs or symptoms of cardiac problems. It can happen to anyone anytime. First aid saves lives.

Thank you again.
Debra