My Lifesaving Red Cross Story: Josh Berg

By Clarice Nassif Ransom, American Red Cross Volunteer

Name: Josh Berg
Recognition: American Red Cross Lifesaving Certificate of Merit, 2019

Meet Josh Berg. Josh helped save the life of an athlete who collapsed and lost consciousness at the finish line of a track meet at the Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on April 13, 2019. 

Josh Berg receiving his award from American Red Cross
in the National Capital Region CEO Linda Mathes in  November 2019.

Just three days before the track meet, Josh was re-certified in American Red Cross CPR/AED for Professional Rescuers & First Aid, which Josh attributes as helping him to know how to save the athlete’s life. Josh explains that on the day of the track meet, he was the host athletic trainer – it was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, and the event was typical from a medical aspect. 

“As an athletic trainer at a track meet, however, you can never let your guard down, and you must be prepared to deal with the absolute worst of scenarios,” said Josh. 

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“The absolute worst of scenarios happened as quickly as I can remember. I got a radio call from my intern who said that there was an athlete at the finish line who apparently stopped breathing and lost his pulse. I immediately ran to the scene to evaluate the medical situation.”

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Josh said the athlete was a mid-distance sprinter who finished the race and collapsed as he was trying to catch his breath. 

“At the time of my initial assessment, the athlete was not breathing, and he did not have a pulse,” said Josh. 

“I instructed a bystander to notify emergency medical services (EMS) staff who were thankfully stationed at the meet. I immediately began giving chest compressions, and it did not take long for the athlete to regain consciousness. I remember around the 22, 23, or 24th chest compression, the athlete took a gigantic gasp of air. At that time, I never felt more relief in my entire life. EMS staff responded quickly and were on the scene very close to when that athlete began breathing and regaining a pulse.”

Josh said as the EMS staff removed the athlete from the scene for further medical treatment, the athlete was waving to the crowd.

 "A true miracle was that the athlete had the fight in him to remain alive,” said Josh, who was grateful to the intern and to the bystander for helping him save the athlete’s life.

“I retreated back to my tent and prayed I would never have to do something like that again. I was hopeful that the athlete would make a good recovery, which I later found out he did.”

Saving a life impacted Josh in many ways, including realizing how his training in American Red Cross CPR/AED for Professional Rescuers & First Aid made him prepared and able to respond to this unexpected event. 

“This lifesaving event taught me that there is no such thing as being overly prepared, especially if lives are on the line,” said Josh. 

“Whether you are a healthcare professional, summer lifeguard, coach, or a bystander with a CPR certification, you must always be ready to snap into action and to protect others. As an athletic trainer, not only are we surrounded by our student-athletes every day, we are surrounded by our school’s community. We are often the first line of help during an emergency.”

Josh hopes his story will inspire others who hear and read about it to become trained in CPR/AED or take part in other lifesaving trainings.

He says the key to a lifesaving event is being ready.

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“Trust yourself and the preparation that brought you to this point. True instinct will take over. I think this story will inspire some to not take their role for granted.”

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The American Red Cross Lifesaving Certificate of Merit is the highest award given by the American Red Cross to an individual or team of individuals who saves or sustains a life by using skills and knowledge learned in an American Red Cross Training Services course. The certificate bears the signature of the President of the United States, who is the honorary chairman of the American Red Cross, and the signature of the chairman of the American Red Cross. According to the American Red Cross, a lifesaving action exemplifies the highest degree of concern of one human being for another who is in distress.

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Our Red Cross training programs include First Aid, AED, BLS, CPR, EMR, swimming, water safety, babysitting, child care, and more! Learn more and sign up today: http://redcross.org/takeaclass

American Heart Month: Saving Lives

By Tanesha Hayes, Volunteer

February is all about health and love! It’s what we call, American Heart Month. The month was created to raise awareness and combat the disturbing fact that more than half the deaths in the U.S were caused by cardiovascular disease. This disease can affect both your health and social aspects of your life. Your exercise patterns, what you eat, family involvement, employment options and ability to have fun (say goodbye to crazy rides at amusement parks), are the most common aspects of people’s lives effected by cardiovascular disease. Not to mention, living with cardiovascular disease decreases life expectancy and increases your chance of depression. Heart health not only affects you but everyone close to you!

I encourage every person to take initiative and combat cardiovascular disease. You can do this by learning more about the heart, living a healthy life style, and preparing yourself to handle any cardiac crisis that could happen.

The American Red Cross understands the importance of heart health and that cardiac attacks could affect anyone within moment’s notice. Would you know what to do if someone near you needed saving? After taking the CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation)/AED (Automatic defibrillator) course, you will be trained and certified to save anyone during an emergency.

The CPR/AED course teaches students how to save a life during a cardiac or breathing emergency. To be more specific, this skill can be useful for saving an adult or child in cases of a heart attack, near drowning, or when a person’s heartbeat has stopped. Reid Heiser is a former student of the Red Cross’s CPR/AED course. The 17-year-old saved the life of Jim Hammer when he collapsed at the recreation center where Reid worked. This incident was unexpected and happened one week after completing his Red Cross CPR training. Both Reid and Jim are thankful for the CPR training and are now friends!

This month is about the love of our hearts- and others. Like Reid, you never know when you’ll have to perform a lifesaving act, but you’ll be proud when you know how!

If you are interested in learning more about the CPR/AED course, check out the Red Cross website.



Sources: 
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-3566-american-heart-month-1964
https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/cpr
https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/aed
https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/aed/using-an-aed
https://sites.google.com/a/cornell.edu/cardiovascular-disease-in-the-united-states/social-impacts

Show Your Love this Valentine's Day 💗 Learn CPR with the Red Cross 💕

By Rose Ellen O'Connor, Volunteer

February is National Heart Month❤, and the perfect time to learn how to save lives with your American Red Cross. Knowing how to perform CPR and being able to use an automated external defibrillator (AED) during a cardiac emergency are just a few of the many ways you can make a difference. 

Why not show your love this Valentine’s Day by learning how to save a heart-attack victim’s life? 💓

In response to the thousands who die every year in the U.S. from Sudden Cardiac Arrest, the American Red Cross offers CPR and AED (Automated External Defibrillator) classes throughout the Washington area. Nationally, the American Red Cross trains 9 million people a year in life-saving skills.
The difference between a bystander and someone trained in CPR or AED can be the difference between life and death.

More than 356,000 people in the U.S. suffer out-of-hospital Sudden Cardiac Arrest or SCA and nine out of ten die, according to the American Heart Association. That means that one person every two minutes dies somewhere in the country from sudden cardiac arrest, notes AED.com, making SCA the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and killing more people than lung cancer, breast cancer and HIV/AIDs combined.

There are rarely symptoms and almost no warning when SCA strikes, says AED.com. The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation explains that SCA occurs when the heart stops beating. It can happen to all sorts of people, including children and teens. The person suffering an SCA collapses and may gasp or shake as if having a seizure, according to the foundation. The victim’s heart is no longer pumping blood throughout the body or to the brain.

That’s when CPR and AED come into play. There are only a few minutes to spare. To administer CPR, a rescuer places one hand on top of the other in the middle of the chest and pushes hard and fast, using body weight to administer compressions that are at least two inches deep and at least 100 per minute. The victim’s head is tilted slightly back, chin lifted and nose pinched closed. The rescuer places his mouth over the person’s mouth to make a complete seal and blows two times into the mouth to make the chest rise. Compressions are then continued. CPR can buy time until an ambulance arrives. It’s even better if an AED, a padded device that analyzes the heart and may deliver a shock to restart the heart’s normal rhythm, is available.

CPR given within three to six minutes of the onset of cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival.

The American Red Cross, in conjunction with affiliates, offers a four-hour course in First Aid, CPR and AED. You can receive certification in each of the areas that is valid for two years. The classes are given throughout the region during the day and evening and on weekends. They start at $70 and free refreshers are offered online.

Red Cross also offers web-based training. It allows you to work at your own pace and requires only a short, in-person session to check your skills.

Below is a list of the courses we offer – with classroom, online + classroom, and online only options available:
• First AID
• CPR
• AED
• BLS/CPS for Healthcare
• Babysitting & Child Care
• Swimming + Water Safety
• Lifeguarding
• CNA Training
• CNA Testing
• Instructor Training

Register in seconds at www.redcross.org/take-a-class and start your journey to save a life.


You can also download the free Red Cross First Aid App for instant access to information on handling the most common first aid emergencies, including sudden cardiac arrest, at your fingertips.

My Red Cross Story: Eric Coates

By Sandy Habib, Volunteer

Three hundred and fifty-four hours! When you do the math, that translates to almost nine 40-hour work weeks - essentially two months.

This is exactly how much time Eric Coates has volunteered with the American Red Cross between January 2018 and January 2019. This is an extraordinary amount of time by any measure, but it’s even more amazing given that Eric manages to give so much of himself and still work full-time.

Professionally, Eric is a Safety Director, ensuring that structures are architecturally secure for people to occupy. It is through his job that he began his work with the Red Cross. In December 2017, Eric was earning his “CPR Trainer” Certification, which includes CPR, AED and First Aid. The course instructor was from the Red Cross and informed him that the organization could really benefit from volunteers with backgrounds like his - in Safety, Engineering and Construction. Eric quickly got involved and did his orientation course on January 6, 2018.

From there, Eric dove head-first, used all of his vacation time from work and embarked on a fantastic journey of Red Cross volunteer work that has taken him across the National Capital Region and as far as North Carolina. In Fayetteville and Wilmington, North Carolina, he ensured that safety standards at Hurricane Florence relief shelters met local and Red Cross guidelines. In Maryland, he serves as a shelter associate. In D.C. and Maryland, he installs residential fire alarms as part of Sound the Alarm, a Red Cross program that educates families about fire safety and ensures that they have functioning fire alarms in their homes. He also works on the March for our Lives LSAP (Life Safety Asset Protection) Go Team, providing support services as needed.

“There are so many opportunities to do good with the Red Cross. I’m going to keep helping my community as long as I can. It’s extremely rewarding to be able to help so many people in need.”
Eric Coates, Red Cross Volunteer

The volunteer opportunities that Eric helps at most often, though, are house fires in the National Capital Region. Regardless of the hour or the wintery temperatures outside, Eric goes to help local families who are distressed after their homes and possessions have gone up in flames. After spending a few hours (usually in the wee hours of the night) helping to get the family settled, Eric heads back home to shower and goes straight to work. He may need a few more cups of coffee than usual to make it through his workday after assisting at a pre-dawn house fire, but for him, it’s worth it.

Volunteering at these house fires with the Red Cross is especially meaningful to Eric. He appreciates how the Red Cross provides those affected with hotel accommodation, food and a debit card to meet their basic immediate needs. Almost as importantly, though, he finds it very rewarding to be able to offer these distraught families much-needed emotional support. He helps them relax - and sometimes, even smile - which is quite a feat in the face of such loss.

Eric proudly explains, “The part of the Red Cross that I love the most is that we’re not a group that gives a debit card and walks away. We do a lot more to get distressed families through the crisis.”

Even talking to Eric is an inspiration. He speaks about the Red Cross and his volunteer work with such exuberance. He loves meeting so many diverse people, and he thrives on the contributions he is able to make to help others. Even more than the extra cups of coffee, it’s Eric’s passion for helping those in need that keeps him energized to continue volunteering with the Red Cross. 

Want to join us as a volunteer? Visit redcross.org/volunteer to learn more about opportunities.

CPR/AED Awareness Week: The Basics of How to Perform CPR and Use an AED

By Hailie Duenkel, Volunteer

June 1st – 7th is National CPR and AED Awareness Week. 

The Red Cross offers CPR training and AED course options for schools, employees, healthcare providers, and individuals both weekdays and weekends. Whatever class you decide to take, you can be confident you will leave the certification class feeling confident to accomplish life-saving resuscitation methods when someone goes into cardiac arrest.

CPR Training
CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) is an emergency process performed when someone’s heart stops beating. Performing CPR can triple the chances of the victim’s survival. Here are some basic concepts you will experience in a training course:

• Call 911 and ensure the area is safe for you to approach the victim.
• Check for breathing and tilt their head back to clear the airway.
• If the person is not breathing, begin performing CPR:
• Place your hands one on top of the other in the middle of the chest.
• Push at a hard, fast past with a compression of about 2 inches deep.
• Distribute 2 rescue breaths. 
• Continue these steps until the person starts breathing or until a trained medical responder arrives.

*Steps are different for a child or infant and are described here.

AED Training
When CPR is proving ineffective, an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) can be used to resuscitate victims when they go into cardiac arrest. An electric shock is sent to the heart to resume a heartbeat. An AED device can often be found in most offices and public buildings and having the certification to use one can prove detrimental in emergency situations. Below are steps in using an AED machine:

• Turn on the AED machine and follow the audio commands. (The machine will tell you step-by-step instructions on what to do!)
• Place AED pads on the victim’s bare chest where the machine indicates.
• Ensure you and anyone else present are not touching the victim.
• Press the “analyze” button for the machine to analyze the person’s heart.
• If a shock is needed, the machine will tell you. Then press the “shock” button.
• Begin CPR after the shock is delivered.

The best way to deal with an emergency is to prepare for it. With topnotch instructors and recognized online courses, you can be certain you will receive the best training to keep you on your toes in a crisis situation. Go online to sign up for a CPR or AED training course so next time you can do more than just call 911. You can save a life.

Diana Davis: Red Cross Hero

June 1-7 is designated as National CPR and AED Awareness Week. The American Red Cross, along with other National Cardiac Arrest Collaborative members, is stressing that every second counts in cardiac arrest and people can save lives by knowing how to perform CPR and use an AED.

Written by Rose Ellen O'Connor, Volunteer

It was a quiet evening last November when the panicked call came for help. Diana Davis’s 30-something neighbor was having a heart attack and his father-in-law wanted to know if anyone new CPR. Diana reacted on instinct.

She ran across the street and found her neighbor, Bobby Clark, on the floor, his face purple and his eyes rolled back in his head. She pulled up his shirt and put two fingers to his throat looking for a heartbeat. There was none. Then she put her ear to his mouth and listened for breathing. Again, nothing. Finally, she checked his chest and found no movement. She began administering compressions to his chest, just as she learned in CPR class.

He began taking shallow breaths that gradually moved closer together. When the paramedics arrived, they administered shocks to his heart and his normal color returned to his face. They told Diana she had saved her neighbor’s life. Her mother went with Bobby’s wife Jaime to the hospital and the doctors issued the same verdict: if Diana had not administered CPR, Bobby would have died.

“I wasn’t really thinking anything. I just wanted to help,” Diana says.


Knowing that she had saved a life was mind-blowing.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” she says. “He changed my life and I definitely changed his. I feel like I have more purpose. I wanted to be a doctor before but now I know I’m going down the right path.”

Diana, 18, who lives in Gaithersburg and is graduating from Northwest High School, received the Certificate of Merit from the Red Cross at a graduation awards ceremony in May. The American Red Cross in the National Capital Region will also be honoring her at its Annual Meeting on June 6.

Diana Davis with American Red Cross,
National Capital Region CEO, Linda Mathes.

She learned CPR in a life guard class sponsored by the Red Cross. Diana was following in her two older brother’s footsteps, both of whom are lifeguards. She took CPR class again in a first aid class her sophomore year of high school, and was recertified before last summer’s lifeguard season began.

Diana plans to start a Red Cross club at Montgomery College, which she will be attending in the fall.

To see Diana receive the highest Red Cross award, the Certificate of Merit (signed by the President of the United States), click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM3rjHbwbqs 

National CPR/AED Awareness Week: Step-by-step CPR Guide

By Carly Flumer, Volunteer

The first week of June is National CPR/AED Awareness Week, and the Red Cross wants you to know how to perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) when an emergency occurs. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide that you can print and take with you.

Before giving CPR:

1. Check the scene to make sure it’s safe. Then tap the person and shout, “Are you okay,” to make sure that the person needs help.
2. Call 911 for assistance. If help is required, call (or ask a bystander to call) 911, then send someone to get an AED. If an AED is not available or there is no bystander to assist, stay with the victim and begin giving assistance.
3. Open the airway by having the person lay on his or her back. Tilt the head back slightly to lift the chin.
4. Listen carefully for breathing, but no more than 10 seconds. (Occasional gasping sounds do not equal breathing). If there’s no breathing, begin CPR.

 Red Cross CPR Steps

1. Push hard and fast by placing your hands, one on top of the other, in the middle of the chest. Use your body weight to help you administer 30 compressions that are at least two inches deep and delivered at a rate of 100 compressions per minute.
2. With the person’s head tilted back slightly and the chin lifted, deliver rescue breaths by pinching the nose shut and placing your moth over the person’s mouth to make a complete seal. Blow into the person’s mouth to make the chest rise. Deliver two rescue breaths and then continue compressions. (Note: If the chest doesn’t rise with the initial rescue breath, re-tilt the head before delivering the second breath. If the chest doesn’t rise with the second breath, then the person may be choking. After each subsequent set of 30 chest compressions, and before attempting breath, look for an object and remove it, if  seen.) 
3. Continue CPR steps. Keep performing cycles of chest compressions and breathing until the person begins breathing, an AED becomes available, or an EMS or a trained medical responder arrives. (Note: End the cycle if the scene becomes unsafe or you can’t continue performing CPR due to exhaustion.)

To find a CPR training course, visit here: https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/cpr/cpr-training