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CTC teaches health care providers, community by Michael Baker Public Relations The calendar on the wall almost overflows with red ink. Appointments and training sessions occupy each day’s tiny square, filling the months of December and January. But the MUSC Community Training Center’s busy agenda has nothing to do with the holiday rush or the New Year.  Flip a few calendar pages. It’s booked through March. The calendar marks the foresight and preventative awareness of Janice Rhodes, Dru Thomas, and the 192 instructors who work with the center. Since receiving approval from the American Heart Association in January 2003, the center has taught people about resuscitation techniques and first aid. Although it offers training courses for the expected publics—MUSC, MUHA, and UMA members—the center also reaches out to members of the Charleston community.  “We have two goals,” said Rhodes, a registered nurse and training center coordinator. “First, we want to provide quality life support education to our staff and students, but just as important, we’re here to serve the community.” The center has accomplished the first objective by training more than 200 staff members and students each month. The success of the second goal—community-centered learning—reveals itself in the center’s popular Basic Life Support program (BLS). BLS contains courses for everyone, regardless of expertise. In the various BLS programs, people learn the skill of CPR for all ages, first aid for choking individuals, adult and pediatric CPR, and the relatively new skill of operating an AED. An AED, or automated external defibrillator, serves as a more portable version of the “shocking devices” seen in hospitals and on television shows such as “ER.” In the event of a cardiac arrest or other heart-related emergency, health care professionals apply pads to the afflicted person and a machine sends an electric current into the person’s chest, attempting to “jolt” the heart back into a steady rhythm.  The preferred method of defibrillation takes place in a hospital setting. In an emergency, however, bystanders can use an AED to perform the same critical function. Slightly larger than a child’s lunch box, the AED displays large, easy-to-read buttons and an audio-visual guide that walks inexperienced rescuers through each step of the defibrillation process. What’s more, the AED’s computer automatically reads a person’s vital signs and only shocks certain heart rhythms. Learning how to use an AED becomes increasingly important as more units find their ways into schools, supermarkets, and other places of public gathering. But while technology improves the ability to save lives, nothing is quite as effective as learning the basic elements of CPR.  An ever growing number of people have come to the Community Training Center to learn simple but potentially-life-saving skills. Thomas, administrative assistant at the center, related two such instances. “Recently, I received a call from a nanny who wanted to sign up for CPR,” she said. “The child’s parents thought it was important that the nanny have the necessary skills in an emergency.” Thomas also recalled the center’s work with a troop of 14 boy  scouts, each between the ages of 7 and 10 years old. They enrolled in the BLS course to learn adult CPR, choking prevention, and basic first aid. Still, the center focuses on increasing awareness around Charleston. “I don’t think the community really knows we’re out here,” Rhodes said.  As a remedy, the center reached out to the university first, inviting physicians, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, students, and others from around MUSC to participate in the courses. Rhodes said the feedback has been positive.  For experienced health care personnel, the center provides advanced training in adult, child, and infant resuscitation. Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), for example, teaches rescuers how to handle a cardiac or respiratory emergency using advanced airway management, heart rhythm interpretation, and drug and electrical therapy. The center also offers a similar course for treating children, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). Rhodes said ACLS and PALS further pursue the steps taught in BLS. Enrolled participants learn more about breathing and circulation management in an emergency. Despite the variety of courses and the large number of enrollees each month, Rhodes remains confident in the center’s ability to accommodate the changing needs of MUSC and the community. “Generally, we’re here Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.,” she said, “but with the number of instructors at the center, we’re very flexible with our hours. “Nights, weekends, any time we can squeeze something in, we’ll do it,” Rhodes added. “That’s what we’re here for.” With such a dedicated attitude and an experienced staff, the Community Training Center’s schedule should remain busy for quite a while. Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.