Welcome to the New Year 2015! Are you ready? Do you have your New Year’s resolutions documented and a game plan in place? As we all know, resolutions come in all forms. Many of which focus on self-improvement, financial related goals, and relationships.

CPR Choice wants to challenge you to include some resolutions this year that will benefit you, as well as others.

We hope these goals will make it on your list this year:

Healthy living!

Most people focus on losing weight and set unrealistic goals. Let’s face it, not everyone will look like a Victoria’s Secret model. So, focus on things you can control and manage.

• Eat a balanced meal– include fruits, vegetables
• Drink your water! Avoid sugary drinks that add calories and who knows what else!
• Get out & move– Plan time in your schedule to be active. A daily 30 min walk improves your health, as well as your emotional well-being. Get out today & let us know how you feel!

We challenge you to focus on the 3 above– eating a balanced meal, drinking water, and exercising and if your goal is also weight loss please take baby steps. Set a realistic weight loss goal and remember you won’t lose the weight overnight—it’s a lifestyle change. So start 2015- slow and steady with good eating & exercising habits and you’ll see a difference.

Financial freedom

This is your year! Now is the time to review your finances and set some realistic goals for your family. Job stability is becoming more of an issue and being financially secure in the event of the unexpected job loss is key to reducing stress on your family.

• Simplify your life– review your budget, looking for areas where you can cut back and make a plan for future events, such as vacations or weekend trips.
• De-clutter your world– take the time to de clutter your home and sell any items you either don’t need or use. This is a great way to put away some funds for a new item or a family trip.
• Family time– eating out is part of every family’s life and make a pact to eat at home, cooking together and saving money! This is a great opportunity to save money, share some family time either in the kitchen or at the dinner table. Both will pay off in the end—we promise!

Social Interactions

Relationships, building business networks, spending more time with your family– all these are a result of TIME. In 2015, focus on spending time with the right people, the people who need you, love you and the ones that support you and challenge you.

• Volunteering is good for you– emotionally and physically! Look for opportunities for you individually as well as group opportunities for your family and friends.
• Spend quality time with your significant other– it’s important and helps you maintain your bond.   Life changes quickly, if you have someone by your side, invest the time to maintain and grow your relationship.
• Friends, friends, friends– friends come in all sizes and support levels. Make sure you include these special people in your life! Friends are important to keep you grounded, offer different perspectives, offer honest feedback and the majority of time are just like family. Don’t forget what value they bring to your life!
• Learn a new hobby or skill– a great example of this is getting your loved ones together to learn a new language or life-saving skills, such as CPR. You could save a life and share some fun experiences! Contact us for a family discount!

Our Goals

CPR Choice’s goals are in place- personal and professional. We hope you will adopt and share some of these tips and resolutions- for you and your family too!

Again, CPR Choice is excited about what 2015 has to offer and we are committed to making it our best year ever! We are passionate about our business and providing our clients with life-saving skills taught by the best staff in the area. We revisit our company’s vision every year to ensure we are setting future goals that will lead us in the right direction! Our vision is to be a nationwide CPR provider, providing quality training that is engaging and interesting. To be an advocate for AED use and a worldwide provider of AEDS. We are looking forward to you being part of our journey this year!

Happy New Year!

There are differences between cardiac arrest and a heart attack and CPR Choice wants to make sure you are informed and prepared in the event of a medical emergency.

What is Sudden Cardiac Arrest or SCA?

Sudden cardiac arrest or SCA is a sudden or unexpected pulseless condition attributed to the cessation of cardiac mechanical activity.  It is usually caused by ventricular fibrillation, an abnormality in the heart’s electrical system.  When SCA occurs, blood stops flowing to the brain, the heart and the rest of the body and the person collapses.  In fact, the person is clinically dead and will remain so unless someone helps immediately.

Most people do not realize that SCA is a leading cause of death among adults over the age of 40 in the United States and other countries. In the U.S. alone, approximately 424,000 people of all ages experience SCA each year (more than 1,000/day) and 19 out of 20 victims die.

What is a Heart Attack?

A heart attack occurs when part of the heart’s blood supply is reduced or blocked, causing the heart muscle to become injured or die.  A heart attack victim is awake and may complain about painful symptoms.  The heart muscle requires oxygen to survive. Coronary arteries are in charge of bringing oxygen rich blood to the heart. However, these arteries can become more narrow and clogged by fat, cholesterol, and plaque resulting in poor perfusion.

What Can I Do?

SCA can strike anyone, anytime.  Seconds count–timely and appropriate care will substantially improve survival rates.   In the event of a Sudden Cardiac Arrest:

• Call 911. Give specific details; “I have a female, approx. 50 years old, experiencing chest pains…”
• Tell someone to get the AED.
• Begin doing chest compressions at a rate of 100 per minute. (Think of the Bee Gees song, Stayin’ Alive.) Push hard and fast in between the nipples on the lower portion of the sternum.

What you can do to prepare:

• Learn CPR and AED functionality.  Get your friends and family involved too.  Remember, over 80% of cardiac arrests occur at home, which means a life you save could very well be a loved one!

• Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Access– spread the word on why having an AED at your work, school or community center can be the key to survival.  CPR Choice sells AEDs and provides hands on training, as well as guidance on internal procedures for the best utilization.

Having confidence in your ability to perform CPR and to use an AED is the best way to prevent unnecessary deaths. CPR Choice is your source to learn the skills needed to save a life!  It is a very small price to pay versus watching the ones you love pass in front of you. Sign up for a CPR class today!

A new baby is a life changing event and a blessing all wrapped up in one! Planning, prioritizing, and preparing for your little bundle of joy can be overwhelming. One thing you can’t neglect is getting your family prepared with life-saving skills to care for your little one. Have you added infant/child CPR training to your list of “to dos”? If not, CPR Choice is here to help!

CPR Choice offers infant and pediatric basic first aid classes for all caretakers. Before your little one arrives makes sure all your caregivers are prepared in case of an emergency. Set aside a few hours to attend a class with CPR Choice to learn the proper techniques. Techniques differ depending on the age of the child, and doing them improperly can be harmful- learn the right technique today!

CPR – infants and children under a year old:

• Is the baby responsive? Check lips and fingertips, are they blue? Are they breathing? If not, have someone call 9-1-1!
• Place baby on her back- on a firm, flat surface.
• Give 30 chest compressions – using your index and ring fingers between your babies nipples at a tempo of 100 compressions a minute.
• Tilt baby’s head back, push back on forehead and lift chin with one finger.
• Give 2 short, gentle breaths watching for chest rise.
• Continue to repeat compressions and breaths.

Choking –infants and children under a year old:

• Turn infant facedown over your forearm or on your lap if you can’t manage the forearm position, hold their jaw with one hand to support the head, which should be lower than the chest. Using the heel of your free hand, deliver five quick slaps between the shoulder blades.
• If still can’t breathe, try chest thrusts: While holding your baby, turn face-up, keeping the head lower than the chest. Place two fingers in the middle of the chest and give five thrusts.
• Repeat with back blows and chest thrusts until the object is visible and you can remove it.

Choking – children over 1 year old:

• Stand behind the child with your arms around their waist.
• Make a fist with one hand, placing the thumb side against the child’s stomach above the navel, but below the rib cage.
• Grasp the fist with your other hand and quickly thrust inward and upward.
• If your child becomes unresponsive, instruct someone to call 9-1-1 and begin CPR immediately.

CPR Choice serves all local hospitals including Fort Sanders, Park West, Tennova, University of TN Medical Center, Blount Memorial, Methodist, LeConte, Wellmont, Mountain States Health Alliance and many more. We want to be your choice to help you and your family be prepared for any medical emergency.

Gather your group of caregivers, including Mom & Dad, Partner, Grandmother, Aunts, etc. and schedule a class with CPR Choice today!   As an added incentive, when you schedule your “Family” training session your 2^nd person (must be immediate family) will get a 50% discount.   Do it for you, your peace of mind and your family!

Contact us at 865-548-1500 or info@cprchoice.com to schedule your family life saving class today!

For Groups of 8 or more, please contact us via our On-Site/Group Training page.

It is hard to believe that it is New Year’s Eve again! The years really do go by faster and faster the older you get. Here are a few safety tips to consider for your New Year’s celebration.

Friends: Celebrations are much more fun if you are with friends or a group! Don’t go to parties and events alone. This is especially important for women that are going out. Please plan a fun group to hang out with if you plan on going anywhere for the New Year’s Eve holiday.

Events: New Years is full of festivities, parties, and public events. Always be aware of your surroundings, especially if you are drinking alcohol. You may be surrounded by people you don’t know or you may be in a place that you are not familiar with.

Drinking: Please be responsible about your drinking and do not over consume. Also be aware of your drinks. New Year’s eve can be a great party but it can also make you a victim of someone spiking your drink. Do not leave your drinks unattended. This is not a time to be trusting of people. Use your common sense. When popping open the champagne bottle, make sure you aren’t aiming it at someone’s face. Sadly, there are many eye injuries that occur because people don’t think.

Driving: DO NOT EVER DRINK AND DRIVE! Please arrange to have a taxi service or a designated driver to drive you around.  Driving with a buzz is a bad idea and it is risks your safety as well as the safety of others. Don’t be afraid to take the keys of someone who is impaired.

Pet Safety: Loud celebrations can be frightening for pets. Please make arrangements for your pets to be in a secure, safe environment. Please give extra attention to your animals; frightened animals can run and then be hit by cars, cause accidents, and become lost.

Party Host: Hosting a party comes with responsibility. If you are serving alcohol, please arrange a taxi service for your guests or allow them to stay over. It is also a good idea to serve non-alcoholic drinks as an option and to stop serving alcohol several hours before the party is over.

Fireworks & Firearms: When it comes to explosives, follow the same rules on New Year’s Eve that you would any other time of the year. It is best to leave it to the experts. Never allow children to handle or light any kind of fireworks. Please do not shoot any firearms, especially in populated areas! This is a bad idea. What goes up, must come down!

CPR: Hopefully, everyone will be safe and sound while you are ringing in the new year. Nevertheless, you should always be prepared for the unlikely events and be ready to help. As always, be on the lookout for anyone in distress. Make sure to follow the basic principles for dealing with the emergency that you learned in our CPR Class. Whether it be calling 911, beginning CPR, getting an AED, or performing the Heimlich maneuver, our classes will help you feel confident to perform life-saving techniques to properly respond to the situation.

Have a HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR!  Thank you so much for being great customers and friends.  May 2015 be filled with greatness!

This year’s Peanut Butter Drive turned out to be a great success.  Originally we had set a goal to collect 250 jars of peanut butter.  We had to keep increasing the goal!  We are proud to announce that this yesterday we dropped off over 800 jars of peanut butter to Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee. We had been collecting the past 3 weeks.  Our PB drive was even featured in the Daily Times newspaper.

Our mission is to SAVE LIVES!  Not only do we want to accomplish our mission by teaching the valuable life saving skills of CPR but also by doing charitable work that can help others.  Every year we pick a project to help save the lives of others.  This year we chose to collect Peanut Butter for 2nd Harvest Food Bank.  Peanut butter is a highly sought after product for food banks as it has a good combination of carbs, fats, proteins and nutrients as well as a good shelf life.  We offered our customers discounts for brining in jars and worked with past customers to help collect.  Some of our collection spots were schools, dance studios, hair salons, gyms and individuals.

It feels so good to be able to make a small difference in our local community.  We teach heart health in our CPR classes and that includes encouraging others to exercise their hearts by reaching down and lifting up others.

We are all ready looking forward to next year and what projects we can get involved with to help our community.  On Jan 23 & 24 we will be offering a community CPR class at The Health Living Expo for only $10 at the Knoxville Convention Center.  All proceeds to benefit our local American Heart Association.

Learn CPR-Save Lives!

Christmas is our favorite time of the year! There’s magic in the air… From the energy and excitement of little children, to the feelings of hope for peace, prosperity, and a happy new year that’s just around the corner. We love the hustle, bustle of it all! It’s a special time for gathering with our loved ones and enjoying the reason for the season!

CPR Choice has been so blessed this year in gaining new relationships and in providing a service to our customers that we are passionate about! Last night we enjoyed celebrating together with our Knoxville area staff at our annual CPR Choice Christmas party. It has been such a busy year, so it’s a pleasure to sit back and enjoy each other’s company when we can. We had a lot of fun playing games, enjoying good food, recounting our favorite events of the year, and planning for an awesome 2015!

We are so grateful to our outstanding team of CPR instructors & support staff. We were happy that our instructors and staff from Knoxville, Sevierville, Maryville, and the Tri-Cities were able to join us in the merry-making. Not present, but not forgotten – a big Merry Christmas to our California, Idaho, and Colorado Staff as well! We truly have the most passionate and dedicated team at CPR Choice. Thank YOU all, or as they say in Tennessee, “y’all!” 😉

At CPR Choice, we believe the best exercise for the heart is reaching down and lifting others up! Our Peanut Butter Drive was a HUGE success and we ended up tripling our original goal! Our instructors, students, business associates, and friends deserve an extra special shout out after helping us collect over 800 jars of peanut butter for Second Harvest Food Bank this season! We are absolutely thrilled with the outpouring of support and generosity that will go toward helping those less fortunate. Thanks for everyone who contributed to this great cause in our community.

We would also like to extend our heart-felt thanks to the first responders, EMTs, paramedics, fire fighters, healthcare professionals, and others that work in the service industry for their time, energy, and sacrifices made during the holidays.

Wishing a wonderful holiday season to all of our customers in the communities we serve. We couldn’t do it without you! Thank you for the continued support, love, and future opportunities to provide you with life-saving skills.

(Knoxville Area CPR Instructors)

 Merry Christmas from our CPR Choice family to yours!
May you have a happy and safe holiday.

The answer is overwhelmingly YES! Have you ever volunteered for an event and walked away with a euphoric feeling? This feeling is addictive and good for you – mentally and physically!

There are huge benefits in volunteering, felt by you, your family and your community.   CPR Choice understands the value of giving back and looks for every opportunity to make an impact!   In the past couple years, CPR Choice has led the charge on numerous volunteer/charity initiatives and are continuously looking for more ways to get involved and give back.  We want to make a difference in our community!  While we feel it is important to teach CPR, we know there are other issues that can use our help.  We want to live our mission, not just say it!

We want to SAVE LIVES!

Here are a few of our projects:

• Last year we worked with our customers & friends and collected nearly 10,000 pairs of shoes for people in Ecuador and Haiti.  The shoes were donated to Dando Amor and given to orphaned children and adults with no shoes.
• During the 2013 holiday season we coordinated a canned food drive for 2nd Harvest food bank and collected hundreds of canned goods.  This helped local people in Tennessee that were hungry.
• Each year we pick a few non-profit organizations and train all of their personnel at no charge.
• CPR Choice staff have volunteered their time to offer first aid for community events. Earlier this year we were on-site for the Glow Trot fun run 5K and we helped sponsor Knoxville’s Party in Pink to raise awareness for Breast Cancer.
• CPR Choice has also helped fund a new automated external defibrillator (AED) for 1 local hospital and 1 local church.
• Currently we are collecting Peanut Butter for The Second Harvest Food Bank. Our goal was 500 jars but we have already surpassed it! We are still collecting until December 20th.

We know it doesn’t take a lot of effort to make a difference and the rewards are amazing. Here’s a few of the benefits we found:

• Networking– volunteering is a great way to meet new people, help build stronger relationships with current friends if you volunteer together and for some can help combat loneliness and depression. Committing to a time and place is a great way to manage your week and provides you with social interaction, while helping others. Everyone benefits.
• Learning a new skill– volunteering can open the door to new skills. It can be a technical skill, such as filing, using a new computer program, or it can also include social skills, overcoming shyness and learning to relate to people. These newly acquired skills can be utilized anywhere, including your job or in a relationship.
• Self-worth– volunteering provides a feeling of self-worth and/or an increase in self-esteem. Providing support to people in need is a humbling experience, leaving you feeling good about volunteering and ultimately feeling good about yourself.   This feeling becomes addictive and we have found that we want to continue to help, there are so many people in need.

THANK YOU to all our customers and friends for helping us help others! We are committed to increasing our giving next year and would love for you all to be a part of our success. Stay tuned for our new volunteer activities in 2015!  Our mission is to “SAVE LIVES”; we don’t just say it…WE MEAN IT!  We hope to exercise our HEARTS by reaching down and lifting up others in need!

Our local, East Tennessee, news headlines are starting to include school closings and absenteeism due to the FLU!   Flu season starts in October and extends through early spring, with most cases diagnosed in January and February. The flu, also referred to as influenza, is a highly contagious viral infection. Symptoms include:

• Fever, including muscle aches
• Common cold symptoms such as runny or stuffy nose, dry cough
• Sore throat
• Cough
• Stomach upset, including nausea and diarrhea

Someone infected with the flu virus can anticipate suffering from symptoms for 7-10 days. A flu shot is suggested to help with prevention and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone 6 months and older get vaccinated every year.

Prevention- what can you do?

Getting vaccinated is the first step. Here’s some additional tips to help keep healthy this season:

• Stay away from people who are sick. Same goes for you- if you are showing signs of sickness, keep your distance to help protect them too!
• Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze. This will help prevent others from being infected.
• Wash your hands! Soap and water are best, and if that’s not available use a hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your face– eyes, nose and mouth.   This helps avoid additional contamination from touching a surface that might be infected.
• Disinfect your area! Clean and disinfect your area, especially if anyone is sick.
• Take care of yourself before you get sick- get plenty of sleep, eat right, exercise and drink plenty of fluids. Stress also reduces your immune system- find a home-work balance.

CPR Choice hopes these tips help you stay healthy and avoid the flu this season!

About 6 months ago we saw a need for people that lived in the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee to learn CPR.  We wanted to offer more options to them and provide classes that were more affordable and closer to home.  We have now expanded into the Johnson City, Kingsport & Bristol area! We are holding CPR classes weekly for individuals and students at several venues.  We also provide on-site CPR training to businesses, churches, and groups.

To make it easier for people to find a CPR class in the Tri-Cities area, we recently launched TriCities CPR (owned and managed by CPR Choice).  There you can find our calendar of classes or get more information regarding group CPR training.  CPR Choice also owns and manages Knoxville CPR and Maryville CPR.  Over the past ten years, we have become the leading provider of CPR training in Knoxville, TN. As we expand our service areas, it is our goal for CPR Choice to be the #1 CPR Provider in East Tennessee. We’re excited for the opportunity to provide more CPR, AED, and First Aid training to more people in need of certification or recertification in the Knoxville, Maryville, Lenoir City, Oak Ridge, Sevierville, Morristown, Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol areas… With more service areas coming online soon!

At CPR Choice, we offer a variety of CPR classes; each catering to a different demographic & skill-set.  Below are some CPR course descriptions. Spread the word and let your friends know that we are now offering services in Tri-Cities.  Check out our Tri-Cities CPR training calendar for specific dates and times.  We especially hope that offering CPR classes in Johnson City will reduce the burden financially for ETSU students and others.  We provide a students discount with a valid ID card.  Use the PROMO code: STUDENT to save $5.

Our most popular CPR classes are:

BLS for Healthcare Providers
The Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Providers Classroom Course is designed to provide a wide variety of healthcare professionals the ability to recognize several life-threatening emergencies, provide CPR, use an AED, and relieve choking in a safe, timely and effective manner.  Students will also learn to use barrier devices and a bag-valve mask.  This class is designed for healthcare providers or students in the healthcare arena.

Heartsaver CPR & AED
The HeartSaver CPR/AED course is designed for the lay responder. This class teaches the skills necessary to overcome reluctance to act in emergency situations and to recognize and care for life-threatening respiratory or cardiac emergencies. Through “hands-on” training and video demonstrations, students will learn the standard protocols for administering proper CPR techniques and understand when and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).  This is designed for everyday citizens; employees, parents, teachers, coaches, babysitters and other care givers.

Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED
Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED is a classroom, video-based, instructor-led course that teaches students critical skills needed to respond to and manage a first aid, choking or sudden cardiac arrest emergency in the first few minutes until emergency medical services (EMS) arrives. Students learn skills such as how to treat bleeding, sprains, broken bones, shock and other first aid emergencies. This course also teaches adult CPR and AED use. This class is also designed for everyday citizens; employees, parents, teachers, coaches, babysitters and other care givers.

We look forward to seeing you in one of our CPR classes soon! And, as always, if you have any questions or would like to set up a group training session, please contact us at: info@cprchoice.com or call 865-548-1500.

The Healthy Living Expo is coming up!  Get ready for Knoxville’s largest Health & Fitness Expo.  AND…Guess What??  CPR Choice will be participating this year!  We will be doing live CPR demonstrations as well as teaching classes and handing out information at our booth.  Come visit us and learn “hands-only” CPR and get some information and goodies!  We will also be teaching a Friends & Family class each day of the expo. The class will be $10 and all proceeds will be donated to The American Heart Association.

Friday, Jan 23, 2015 9am-3pm (Family & Friends CPR @ 2PM, click to sign up)
Saturday, Jan 24, 2015 9am-4pm (Family & Friends CPR @ 2PM, click to sign up)

Knoxville Convention Center, Booth #121

Admission to the expo is $10 at the door or FREE if you get your tickets ahead of time.
Seniors FREE on Friday, Children 12 and under FREE

FUN! FIT! FABULOUS and FREE!

The area’s largest event focused on health, fitness, nutrition and living green returns for it’s eleventh year to the Knoxville Convention Center January 23-24, 2015. Over 130 individual companies fill more than 250 exhibits. The Expo continues to grow each year from its launch in 2005 and expects approximately 10,000 visitors!  The Healthy Living Expo offers interactive, educational exhibits, demonstrations and presentations.  Best of all, it is FREE when you get tickets before the doors open.

Some of the features for the 2014 Expo:

• Natural Awakenings Natural Health Pavilion
• Life Saving Skills taught by CPR Choice
• Chiropractic Care Pavilion
• Various Important Health Checks
• Healthy Food Sampling Booths
• Hundreds of prizes given away both days!

FREE WELLNESS PROGRAM FOR EMPLOYERS
Cigna Healthcare takes the lead promoting employee wellness by sponsoring tickets to the expo for any company that registers on The Healthy Living Expo website. Whether you have a handful of employees or one of the largest employers in our region, registration only takes a few minutes at the website, TheHealthyLivingExpo.com then you can offer:

MANY WAYS TO GET FIT and GET HEALTHY!
From natural health products to fitness companies, you will find a plethora of new ways to get fit and get healthy at The Healthy Living Expo, including life saving techniques from CPR Choice!

CPR CHOICE
What could be more important than knowing how to save someone in a life threatening situation? The Expo is proud to have CPR Choice demonstrate on stage some of the techniques you can learn when you take a CPR class. You can even take a class while you are at the expo, so by the time you leave you can be prepared to properly assist someone with life saving skills!

Natural Health Pavilion
This section of The Healthy Living Expo has companies with products and services that have a natural health aspect. Natural Awakenings Magazine, the foremost leader in our community promoting natural health is the sponsor of this area. Everything from household products, nutritional supplements to local green suppliers are found in the pavilion promoting a healthy mind, body and planet.

Chiropractic Care Pavilion
In keeping with the natural health approach to wellness is the Chiropractic Care pavilion. Three top chiropractic health professionals host this section with information about whole body wellness using natural health solutions.

FUN Outdoors
Getting outdoors, taking walks and hikes, visiting local parks are all part of living healthy so the City of Knoxville sponsors this area to inform our community of these available resources. Look for many associations and businesses offering information and products for outdoor fun for the entire family available right here in East Tennessee.

Get FIT with Health Checks
More than a dozen free health checks are available at the Expo. Screenings for allergies, blood pressure and a list of other simple tests will be listed at TheHealthyLivingExpo.com under the health check tab.

FABULOUS FOODS
Local Chef Walter and other experts using healthy products create FABULOUS foods at the Eat Right stage then share samples with visitors.  And after each segment, prizes are drawn for those attending. In addition to the stage presentations, numerous exhibitors offer samples of healthy products.

Get Active to stay FIT!
Fort Sanders Health & Fitness Center takes the lead on this stage with plenty of ideas for getting active. Music fills the area for two days highlighting numerous ways to become more active. Demonstrations are exciting to watch, inviting to participate and created for visitors of all ages.

It is informative and fun!  Come check it out!  This is a prime opportunity to find ideas, products, and services from the many exhibitors! CPR Choice is offering these Family & Friends CPR classes as a public service. All proceeds from this class will be donated directly to the American Heart Association.