Today my friend Brenton and I took a free course here at the school covering CPR, AED, and First Aid skills. I wasn’t too keen on the fact that it was supposed to last from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm. Luckily, we got out by 2:30, but it was fairly interesting the whole way through. We covered a couple of hours of CPR with the dummies and then about one more on AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) usage. They are actually really neat and advanced devices…they deliver specific amounts of energy in each shock based on a computerized analysis via the shock patches. We were told that on one charge, an AED can deliver several hundred charges. After lunch, we covered first aid skills. The teaching covered many categories of first aid, each explained fairly briefly. We got to practice a few things such as changing positions of someone who may have a damaged spine or neck, or of course bandaging wounds. I’m glad I took the course because now I’m certified in first aid and CPR/AED for two years and I learned some neat skills that could help me in many situations.