First Aid Course

Hello All,

I've recently relocated to a new city and was sad to find no local Aikido dojo. I was the assistant instructor at my old dojo for two years before I moved. After discussing the desire to begin spreading the joy of Aikido with my Sensei, he gave me his blessing. The simplest way for me to begin teaching Aikido was to go through the local Youth Center. After discussing the requirements with the administrative people, I learned that it was necessary for me to have current CPR and First Aid certification and I've since completed the courses. As Aikidoists, we train in manners which prevent us from harming each other but accidents do happen. I was curious if anyone else has taken such a course and if so, was it for your own self improvement for a "just in case something happened at the dojo" reason or was it work related. Thank you to all the respondents.

- Louis

I took those courses many years back at the local Red Cross and have been meaning to go get them renewed them since they've expired years ago. I took them since I just wanted the skills on me in case something happened anywhere, not just at the dojo.

-- Jun

Akiy,

Thank you for the response. I to attended the Red Cross classes. I'm also interested in knowing if there are any Aikido organizations that require their instructors to be CPR or First Aid certified. I believe it would be a good idea and could also be used to make the parents of new students or even new adult students feel more at ease in the event a situation did occur. Again, thank you for your response.

- Louis




[Edited by lt-rentaroo on September 15, 2000 at 09:06am]

Hi It-rentaroo,

I completed a first aid course (with St. Johns Ambulance) early this year. My main motivation was to be able to pad my resume, secondarily it was a matter of interest to me. It was an intense one week course (cost a few bucks too) and I'm very happy I did it.

Could you imagine teaching a class, one of your students (or spectators) has a heart attack and all you can do is call 911 and wait. I figured why not learn how to bridge the time gap effectively (inbetween calling 911 and the crew arriving) and possibly save a life!

Russ,

Thank you for the response. I agree totally with your reasons for taking the course. The area I live in now has a very confusing system of streets, for example there are approximately three different streets called "second avenue". The quicker care is provided, the greater the chance the injured person will survive. The "time interval" you refer to is very crucial. By learning how to provide basic care in an emergency situation, you could save a person's life. I'm glad that other Akidoists have taken a First Aid or similar course to prepare for such an event.

- Louis

Every instructor in the dojo where I practice is required to complete a CPR and First Aid class, and I believe that also includes all instructors within the Midwest Aikido Federation (USAF Midwest Region).

This happened to me while I was biking. Anyways, I was biking and as I came around a corner I saw what looked like a bag/tarp in the bike path. Initially I was kind of ticked off at something being in the bike path but as I got closer the alarm bells started going off. Man down.

I rode up to the man, got off my bike and tried to check his pulse as best I could (couldn't find one). Right about then he coughed, but still no pulse. The phrase "OH SHIT!" did make it's way through my brain more than once.

A bit of history is in order here. It's been about 20 years since I've done anything remotely resembling CPR (high school and boy scouts). Truth to tell I wasn't even sure how many counts to breath to use (5/2 is what I remembered, 15/2 from what I've subsequently found out).

Anyways, as I'm thinking to myself, "no pulse, no breath (other than the cough), oh shit, gotta try." I look up and 2 women appear. I yell, "do you know CPR?" at which they run up. Turns out they were nurses. They do the CPR, I get on the bike, get help and then come back and hold their dogs (as an aside, I forget the breed but they were monster dogs and probably even more uncomfortable than I was).

The good news is that he lived and wound up a patient to one of the nurses. He probably went down just before I showed up, seconds actually, and the combination of people was very fortuitous--2 nurses and a guy on a bike.

The bad news is that I still haven't got around to updating my CPR.

[Edited by Erik on September 19, 2000 at 09:39pm]

Hello Luis!

If you want to teach classes at the UKAU (United Kingdom) a first aid couse is required.
I did my first cours with 16, refreshing it every 2-3 years. I do it not only because of something can happen in the dojo, but because something can happen where I am the first (or only) person to help.
I, fortunatly, did not have to use my knowledge, but my husband and many of my friend did. Ask their ''patients'' if they think anyone (not just Aikidoka) should know first aid.

Hope this helps,

Simone