Dear Members,

As most of you know, we had a bad luck season over the past 18 months,
with at least 2 very serious injuries. While this stroke of bad luck is
rare (We have probably had more serious injuries in the past 18 months
than in the past 20 years), it brings to light the serious need of
having more of our people properly trained for such emergencies.

Therefore, I have set up a Red Cross Sports Safety Training Course for
our people. The dates are below, and the class will be held at Lakewood
Glacial Gardens in the Ballet Room.

Part One: Saturday, October 30th: The actual Sports Safety Training
Course: 2 hours, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. This will give us time to run a
bit long if needed, as this training is vital to our people!

Part Two: Saturday, November 6th. CPR Instruction and certification:
This class is 4 hours long, so the time will be from Noon to 4:00 PM.

The Red Cross must know as soon as possible how many people will be
taking this course. Please advise me ASAP if you plan to attend. The
cost is $40.00 per person. Cheap, when you realize that someday someone
will live because you spent this $40.00.

Again, please sign up NOW for this class! I need to let them know how
many bodies they will have. Email is preferred.

Notes:

The class is supposed to be conducted in one session, 6 hours long.
Since I felt that we could get more of our people to attend by splitting
the course, I have received permission to split the course into two
parts. They will not give one part without the other, so If you attend,
you must attend both parts.

I have also received permission to have the Sports Safety Training
Course tailored to Short Track Speed Skating. This means we will be able
to concentrate on what to do in our situations, rather than on things
like making splints, etc.

A special note on CPR. CPR is the miracle of saving a life! Simply put,
by doing CPR on someone who’s heart has stopped, the “rescuer” helps to
preserve the person until proper help (Paramedics) arrives. Needing to
do it is incredibly rare. While I performed CPR literaly hundreds of
times on the Fire Department, I have never yet needed it off the job.
(And hopefully I won’t). BUT:

Early this week, the wife (Marilyn) of my best friend of many years on
the Fire Department was at a church “retreat” in Murietta, which is up
near Fresno. During an evening discussion, she “dropped dead” on the
floor. She is only in her early 50’s (younger than me!). By pure luck,
some other four ladies she was with were CPR certified, and started CPR.
She is now in the hospital, recovering slowly from her ordeal. Her heart
is fine, she simply suffered an electrical problem in the heart, which
is exactly the situation that CPR is most effective with. Had none of
these four ladies known CPR, Marilyn would be gone now.

Lastly, due to the serious nature of this type of training, I think we
should limit the age of the people attending to maybe 10 years. Absolute
attention must be given to the instructors.

Thanks!

Jerry