AED Training

• The American Red Cross offers a number of classes including AED, which teaches students how to use an automated external defibrillator. Classes teach how to use the machine on adults and children who have gone into cardiac arrest. The defibrillator sends electrical charges into the body of the person experiencing cardiac problems. The classes effectively teach how an AED works, the importance of CPR in cardiac arrest, what can cause cardiac arrest, and how to use the AED machine. The training is offered in a 4 1/2-hour course.
  
  

CPR Training

• The American Red Cross, along with other entities, also offers classes that prepare students to engage in cardiopulmonary resuscitation to help a person who has stopped breathing. Students can learn how to perform the technique on adults and children; greater care must be given to smaller children. The classes combine a series of informative videos, lectures and hands-on training on how to perform CPR during cardiac emergencies, how to avoid blood-borne pathogens, and the quickest and most effective way to care for the ailing while notifying paramedics.
  
  

Sport Safety Training

• Another class offered by the American Red Cross that involves health care is sport safety training. This class is usually taken by sports coaches who want to ensure the safety of their players. The goals of the program are to raise the health and safety issues that arise with athletes, and to help coaches prevent and respond to injuries that occur in the best manner possible to ensure a speedy recovery.
  
  

Family Caregiving

• Along with AED and CPR training, another class that families can benefit from is family caregiving, also offered by the American Red Cross. The class is designed to teach non-medical professionals how to treat and react to illnesses that family members have, such as caring for a loved one with AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The topics covered in the course span from general caregiving skills to healthy eating and home safety.
  
  

Injury Control

• Additional integral classes, which teach students how to avoid and treat specific kinds of injuries, are the injury-control modules offered by the American Red Cross. For example, the “Slips, Trips, and Falls” module helps explain ladder safety and discusses the types of common hazards that can occur in the home and workplace, and how to treat the injuries that result. Participants also learn how to manage and deal with stress, and the toll it takes on the body.