Milton Fire CARES’ next CPR and “Stop the Bleed” class – an in-depth, four-hour opportunity to learn skills that you can use to save the lives of those around you – will take place on May 17.

Firefighter Gillian Morris will lead that Saturday class, which runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the training room at Fire Station 43 (750 Hickory Flat Road). Up to 12 participants will soak up vital information, learn how to use an AED and makeshift tourniquet, and practice hands-on exercises that they can use in a medical emergency.

Anyone can sign-up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094AA8A72AA3FCC34-47955699-cprinperson.

CPR, or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, can be used when someone’s heart stops beating to keep blood flowing – and, in so doing, keep people alive. According to the American Heart Association, immediate CPR can double or triple the chance of survival for someone suffering cardiac arrest.

“Stop the Bleed,” meanwhile, is focused on what to do when someone starts bleeding profusely. Losing blood can lead to dire, and potentially fatal, health consequences.

(While people will leave this class with invaluable knowledge, they will not receive official Red Cross certification.)

All Milton firefighters are either paramedics or EMTs (and, in one case, a registered nurse), so they are trained in all these skills. Yet while they pride themselves in prompt response times, firefighters can’t be everywhere at once. That is where trained citizens like the May 17 come into play, as they will give more citizens the tools they need to help others survive.

This all feeds into Milton Fire-Rescue’s mission to be proactive, purposeful, and impactful about community health, as evidenced in the Fire CARES program overall. To learn more about this unit and what they offer, go to www.miltonga.gov/FireCARES. These services in regular training classes for the general public like the one planned for May 17.

If you’d like to learn more about fire cares, contact Firefighter Derek Hofmann (the department’s registered nurse) at derek.hofmann@miltonga.gov.