Having basic first aid skills can save a life in an emergency situation. These skills are easy to learn and remember and can make a big difference in a dire situation. Skills like CPR, setting a splint, and stopping bleeding are important life skills that everyone should know.
What is First Aid?
The American Heart Association defines first aid as providing initial care or medical attention to a person for an acute illness or injury before the Emergency Medical Services arrives on site. First Aid can be initiated by anyone in any situation.
The goals of first aid providers are to preserve life, alleviate suffering, prevent further illness or injury and promote recovery. First aid guidelines should be based on scientific evidence, or in the absence of such evidence, on expert consensus.
Competencies for first aid providers include, at any level of training, recognizing, assessing, and prioritizing the need for first aid; providing care by using appropriate knowledge, skills, and behaviors; and recognizing limitations and seeking additional care when needed.

American Heart Association
The American Heart Association, commonly known as AHA, is the leading non-profit organization working in the United States to raise public awareness about cardiovascular diseases. AHA organization also fosters efforts for the availability of proper cardiac disease treatments and works to reduce resulting disabilities and deaths due to these cardiovascular diseases.
The American Heart Association’s motto is “learn and live,” which reflects their aim and objectives. Having headquarters in Dallas, Texas, AHA volunteers nationally to build a society free of cardiovascular diseases. Since its inception in 1994, the organization has been working on a charitable basis and ranked 5th among 100 charitable organizations in America.
AHA has established standards for administering CPR, basic life support, and advanced life support. Along with setting standards, it certifies individuals for BLS, CPR, and first aid, and its certificates are accepted nationwide. The American Heart Association also converges on the cure and prevention of stroke by affiliating with the American Stroke Association.
AHA CPR and First Aid Training
The American Heart Association has designed a series of medical training and online certifications to cope with medical emergencies such as heart attack. Either you want to certify as a professional or just get equipped to handle such emergencies when you find a victim of sudden cardiac arrest. In addition, American Heart Association has managed to gather free information to increase awareness about cardiac and vascular diseases.
The American Heart Association online certification suite has a blend of cognitive skills to learn via web-based modules and let you implement these lifesaving skills by practicing them with the help of an instructor from the American Health Association. However, some certifications do not necessitate physical training with instructors from the American Health Association, like Bloodborne Pathogens.
To encourage more of these certifications, American Health Association has launched iPhone and iPad apps to learn first aid techniques wherever you go. You can find stories of survivors who survived with the help of techniques provided by this app.

Other Option for CPR and First Aid Training
Aside from the AHA training center, many training center worldwide provides certification courses in CPR, Automated External Defibrillator, Basic First Aid and Basic Life Support. You can choose either classroom based, blended learning, or through online courses.
Onine CPR and First Aid training is the best option for busy individuals who needs certification for their employment requirement. It's available for anyone whether you are working as part of emergency medical team, health care providers, or general public who wants to learn basic first aid skills to save a life. It covers the following topics:
- First Aid Basics
- Medical Emergencies
- Injury emergencies
- Environmental emergencies
- Preventing illness and unjury
- CPR with chest compressions and rescue breathing
- Automated External Defibrillator
Upon successful completion of the online certification course, you will receive a digital certificate instantly via email. The actual completion card will be delivered via mail within 2-5 business days.

Conclusion
Learning CPR is no more a difficult thing. Even a kid or toddler can learn it now, so why not you? Learn it today and be a part of the humanitarian force that helps others in their needs during an emergency situation such as cardiac arrest or heart attack. CPR training has been made compulsory for graduates in several states. This indicates the significance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A few states are legislating to make CPR training mandatory.
