St. Johns First Aid and CPR

[bunkergear]

I have been hearing rumors about changes to St johns Ambulance first aid and CPR. That the CPR part is going be nolonger excepted as a minimum standard. But the First Aid part is. I was told that the Toronto recruitment was not excepting St. Johns for there min. qualifications ( True or False), not that I applied or applies to me ust wondering if true or not. I was under the understanding that St Johns was the industry leading in First Aid and CPR. Reason for my question is that I'm looking to take the instructor level for my Volly dept. so we can do it in house for our requals. Any info or suggestions would be greatfully appreciated.

[firefighter316]

I would suggest going the red cross route. We've had some experience dealing with St. John's that were not favourable. It left me to amazed at how poor the first aid skills were for the crews at special events.

[WolfmanHarris]

If you're looking to be an instructor then steer away from SJA. I have my own opinions on their program but this is purely practical. SJA instructors must work for or under the local branch. No room to work for yourself with SJA and your department will end up tied to their organization.

Canadian Red Cross let's you become an Authorized Provider (AP) and work for yourself using their resources and course in exchange for a licensing fee of around $100 bucks. Not only does your department end up not attached to someone else, but you can go into business for yourself on the side teaching public courses.

Personally, I also think the CRC FR and EMR programs are way better then SJA's MFR, AMFR courses. The CRC instructors for these courses have to be Paramedics, FF's or have other practical experience before they can teach these levels; for SJA they just work their way up the organization and may or may not have hands on experience and if they do they may be among the whackers that make up a good chunk of the SJA brigades. Not all of them, but enough I'd be wary.

[Profire]

As a matter of interest not all provinces recognize Red Cross First Aid certificates

[WolfmanHarris]

As a matter of interest not all provinces recognize Red Cross First Aid certificates

Definitely interesting. Which provinces?

[Brydon]

I've never heard of a province not accepting Red Cross, which ones and where did you get this info?

BTW: I'm a member of the brigade and yes most are wackers who treat bo-bo's. When a real situations arise, they panic a loose control. Not all members but most.

I'm also a Red Cross instructor and yes we do have much more flexibility in terms of who we can teach for.

Maybe I should teach FR, I've lots of experience on the FD. :D

[WolfmanHarris]

Maybe I should teach FR, I've lots of experience on the FD. :D

Go for it! I've made some decent coin on the side. I don't even do very many public courses, the first response teams and VFD's are less effort to set up and way more fun to teach.

[Brydon]

I've been thinking about it... now to get the cash from the Wife :rolleyes: