Time is the enemy when someone has a serious health emergency that stops blood flow to their organs. Starting CPR quickly can literally save a life.
“Minutes count,” says Jake Lindauer, director of the Lisbon-Mount Vernon Ambulance Service. “If CPR is started before our EMT professionals arrive on the scene, the prognosis for a good outcome goes way up. Bystanders who know CPR are especially important in rural communities like ours.”
Lindauer adds that if you are called to use your CPR skills, it most likely will be on one of your own family members.
If you’d like to learn (or re-learn) life-saving CPR skills from Lindauer and other LMVAS professional trainers, a free training class will be held on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Thomas Commons building on the Cornell College campus from 9 a.m. to noon. You can sign up at the Rotary Club of Linn County web site, rotarylc.org, and follow the links to Mount Vernon CPR Training. It is open to anyone who lives or works in Lisbon or Mount Vernon and is 16 or older. Enrollment will be limited to the first 40 enrollees.
LMVAS trainers will also offer an optional Stop the Bleed class on the same day and same location, 1-3 p.m. It’s also free, and you can indicate if you will attend the Stop the Bleed class when you enroll for CPR.
If you need Heartsaver certification from the American Heart Association, you will have to pay the certification fee ($30) on training day. Infant CPR and AED (defibrillator) training will be part of the class.
The Rotary Club of Linn County is again helping to organize the CPR class. “One of our missions is to make our communities safer and healthier for all residents,” says John Schultz, Rotary Club of Linn County President. “Helping get more people trained in life-saving CPR skills is one way we can do that. Area businesses, churches, schools, senior centers, government offices, sports venues, and other public places need to have people trained in CPR. Your own home needs it, too.”
This will be the eighth year the Rotary Club and the Ambulance Service have partnered to offer the Community CPR class. Over 200 Lisbon and Mount Vernon community members have been trained.
Just the Facts
What: Seventh Annual Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community CPR Training Class
When: Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025
CPR Class: 9 a.m. to noon
Stop the Bleed Class: 1-3 p.m.
Where: Cornell College Campus, Smith Dining Hall, Thomas Commons, 810 Commons Circle, Mount Vernon, Iowa
Who: Anyone 16+ who lives or works in Mount Vernon or Lisbon. Class size limited to first 40 enrollees.
How to enroll: Go to the Rotary Club Website (rotarylc.org) and follow the links to Mount Vernon CPR Training. Multiple family members may enroll as long as space allows.
Sponsors: Lisbon-Mount Vernon Ambulance Service (trainers); Cornell College; Hills Bank (refreshments); Rotary Club of Linn County.