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!

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!

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.

Over the past few weeks, the same topic of discussion continues to come up in conversation- how can I avoid extra weight gain over the holidays?  We all love to gather with family and friends and it seems every event is centered around food!  CPR Choice has compiled a list of the tips we use to help maintain during the holidays and we wanted to share with our customers.

• Start the day with a healthy breakfast. Make this a requirement for your family and it is a great way to spend quality time with family and friends and a wholesome way to start the day.
• Choose lean meats and veggies at your big meals. Turkey is a lean meat and is staple for most holidays here in the South and also challenge your family to fill up on veggies too. Monitor your intake of carbs and sugary items. It’s a holiday so of course you can have some goodies but chose smaller portions!
• Hydrate! Avoid the sugary sodas and drink your water throughout the day to help with the additional sodium intake. Having chilled and/or fruit water readily available will help you remember to drink and also help fill you up so you won’t overindulge.
• Slow down…this time of year always goes too fast and we all know life is precious! So savor every bite (eating s-l-o-w-l-y) as much as you do the conversation with your family & friends.
• Schedule some time outside (weather permitting). After dinner, stroll thru the neighborhood, or drive to park to take a stroll. This is a great way to spend time together and get a little exercise to help avoid any extra pounds.

So you don’t have to miss out, you just have to make better choices.  Remember it’s a four letter word- P L A N!  You will be more successful.  We promise!  Enjoy!

As you are busy prepping for a Thanksgiving feast with family and friends, CPR Choice wants to wish you a day filled with love and memories!   Thanksgiving Day in the south is a house full of family and friends enjoying a full menu including turkey, ham and all the fixings and a day focused on all the things you are thankful for and sometimes take for granted.

To help our family focus on the quality of our time together, we set some family goals that will hopefully become tradition for Thanksgiving weekend and we wanted to share:

1. Disconnect- Make a pact with your family to avoid all technology, only exception is to call and wish someone a Happy Thanksgiving. Take the time to actually interact, be engaged and catch up with your family and friends.
2. Cook together- We think this is a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with loved ones and even pick up some tricks in the kitchen. Allow your children the opportunity to help with cooking too and build some sweet bonds that will last a lifetime.
3. Take pictures- We love photos and documenting our time together! Capture the kitchen moments, the naps and the crowd around the TV watching football!
4. Play games/watch movie- create a tradition to watch a movie together every season and/or play a family game. Again this is a great way to make some memories, especially with children
5. Nap- Don’t forget to rest & cuddle with your loved ones! If you have the opportunity, create a stress free situation where you and your family can be completely relaxed. Our worlds move at such a fast pace, take advantage of some down time with the folks you love.
6. Make a plan to give back- supporting our community is important to CPR Choice and we want our entire family to be involved in helping “give back”. Our plans for the next year include focusing on volunteer opportunities in our community, helping our local food banks, and supporting local Christmas charities.  Currently we are collecting peanut butter for 2nd harvest food bank.  Bring a jar of PB to class and get a $5 discount!

CPR Choice challenges you to set some goals for you and your family this year too!   Happy Thanksgiving from our CPR Choice family to yours!