CPR Education

CPR Education: American Heart Association training across the San Francisco Bay Area

CPR Education is a training provider based in Walnut Creek, California, that teaches CPR, AED, first aid and Basic Life Support (BLS) certification. The company was founded by Josh Sauberman together with a group of firefighters and paramedics, and its stated aim is to give individuals the knowledge and confidence to act in an emergency. Its courses are certified through the American Heart Association (AHA), which the company describes as the primary authority in CPR and Emergency Cardiac Care (ECC) science.

The provider frames its work around cardiac arrest, which it identifies as a leading cause of death in the United States, and positions its training as a way to extend the number of people able to respond. Classes are built around real-life stories, scenarios and anecdotes drawn from the instructors' professional experience.

Courses offered

The catalogue covers both lay rescuers and healthcare professionals, and several courses can be combined:

• CPR/AED: adult, child and infant CPR and AED use, including choking relief, aimed at the general public.
• First Aid: the Heartsaver First-Aid course for the general public and lay rescuers, covering common medical, injury and environmental emergencies.
• CPR/AED & First-Aid: a combined course for those who need both.
• Basic Life Support (BLS): the national standard for healthcare providers, which can be taken in lieu of the Heartsaver CPR/AED course.
• ACLS Provider (Initial): listed among the available courses.
• Infant Essentials and the EMSA 8-hour Pediatric First Aid CPR AED Course, alongside EMSA Preventive Health & Safety.
• Blended Learning: an online portion completed at the student's convenience, followed by an instructor-led skills session.

Courses are also offered in Spanish under the label Clases de español.

On-site, in-home and group formats

A central part of the service is mobility: instructors travel to the client, whether a workplace, an organisation or a private home, so participants spend less time driving to a class. Training is adapted to the needs of each industry and workplace, with trainers spending additional time on the topics most relevant to the group. The company also runs in-home CPR sessions and private group training, and offers CPR for businesses and organisations as a dedicated line of service.

For healthcare settings, CPR Education provides AHA BLS Provider courses suited to pre-hospital and in-facility environments, naming dental offices, groups of physicians and educational institutions with healthcare-focused students among the audiences it serves. It also addresses OSHA and EMSA compliance needs.

Additional services listed include CPR certification online, LifeSaver Ready CPR & AED packages, Same Day CPR and Bay Area CPR.

Who the classes are for

The client base ranges from individuals seeking last-minute training to boy scout troops, local small businesses committed to safe working environments and corporate clients of all sizes. On the professional side, BLS courses target EMS and medical personnel such as nurses, EMTs, firefighters, paramedics and dentists.

Instructors with field experience

According to the company, all CPR Education instructors work or have worked in the medical or emergency response field. The founder, Josh Sauberman, spent seven years as an EMT and firefighter. Jason Reeves is a firefighter/paramedic with Cordelia Fire Protection Agency who has also worked on an ambulance in San Francisco. Erick Kelly is a paramedic and an occasional instructor at the Los Medanos College EMT training program.

Affiliations and coverage

CPR Education presents itself as an affiliated provider of leading organisations in its field and states that it is certified through the American Heart Association. Its service area is described as the extended Bay Area, listing Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, Solano, Napa, Santa Clara, Marin, San Mateo and Sonoma counties.

Customer feedback quoted on the site includes a field examiner who praised instructor Josh for his humour and stories, and a business owner who hired him for private pediatric CPR and first aid at home and planned to book him for company training.