By Doug Bardwell, Red Cross volunteer

Today, June 7th marks the end of National CPR and AED Awareness Week. What . . . you don’t even know what AED is? It stands for Automated External Defibrillator – more commonly seen as the paddles that doctors, nurses or paramedics use to resuscitate someone whose heart has stopped pumping. But you, too, could quickly learn to use them to save someone’s life.

As more businesses, recreation centers, swimming pools, movie theaters, etc., have AEDs available, wouldn’t it be great if you knew how to use them? Through American Red Cross-sponsored classes, you can, and in just one class.

I took a CPR and AED class at the Red Cross headquarters in downtown Cleveland last year, and it was a fun and easy refresher for the courses I had taken three years earlier. (They suggest every two years for refreshers — my bad.)

A series of related classes can be taken individually or combined, pertaining to your needs. Some people need certification for construction job site requirements, while others might need it for school, but there are class combinations for everyone. CPR and AED are ideally taken together.

Online-only classes can be found here, but I’d highly suggest combining online and in-person courses – referred to as blended learning. Visit redcross.org/take-a-class and then input your desired location and select CPR or AED. You’ll likely find over 100 choices of classes.

A recent CPR/AED student, Steve Riv explained it this way: “I was worried it would be more video instruction and not so much hands-on. I actually really ended up loving the video modules, followed by the in-class instruction. Our instructor was very articulate in explaining the CPR and AED procedures. And, yes, you do get to practice with a “dummy.” I think that the instructor made something that can be mundane an enjoyable and memorable experience.”

Read more here, and schedule that class. More than one person thought they would never need the training but ended up saving someone’s life. Next time, it could be YOU.