Cheese and crackers, trivia, a little mingling and a swag bag at the end of the night. Sounds like a recipe for a party, but the men and women gathered at the Red Cross office in Edmonton earlier this week had more serious matters on their minds. November 16th was the Canadian Red Cross' first cross-country CPR tweet-up—an event where Red Cross twitter followers had a chance to meet each other in select cities across the country and take a free CPR class.
You might think you know what people learn in a Red Cross class (think chest compressions and arm slings) but at Edmonton's tweet-up, instructor Kevin Paes had tweeps slathering shaving cream all over their gloved hands so they could learn how to properly remove gloves that may have been contaminated with bodily fluids. Tweeps also had a chance to play doctor while testing their first aid knowledge, matching up medical conditions such as heart attack or stroke with First Aid responses. And tweeps learned that when in comes to CPR, adulthood actually begins at eight. That’s because physiologically, eight year olds are big enough to be the recipients of adult CPR techniques. With the threat of a big winter storm looming over Edmonton, everyone got ready to take their certification test. We’re happy to report, everyone passed!
