He stood in front of a small group of people, a group of college kids really, although to his surprise Pat spotted a teacher mixed in with the younger crowd. After glancing at the clock on the wall the redhead cleared his throat and stepped up to the teaching podium. “Welcome, I’m Pat O’Ryan. I’m a EMT at Station 10 and today I’ll be the one to teach you guys basic first aid in order for you all to qualify for your Red Cross First Aid Certification. Now how many of you have taken First Aid before?” He paused for a moment, nodding at the sight of hands. “Good that means this should be pretty quick and painless. I don’t know about you guys but I would rather be out enjoying the spring warmth.”

Pat had pulled the short straw when it came to running this particular class at the university. His captain pulled everyone in and they literally drew lots with Pat coming up short. He wasn’t a practiced speaker, he disliked being the center of attention, and wasn’t someone who enjoyed being the leader. Yet here he was doing all three. After taking a deep breath and a quick glance at his paperwork he jumped right in. “Alright guys, bare with me while we go through all this. First is the actual definition of ‘First Aid’. The dictionary defines it as ‘emergency care or treatment given to an ill or injured person before regular medical aid can be obtained’. For minor conditions, first aid care may be enough. For serious problems, first aid care should be continued until more advanced care becomes available. The decision to act appropriately with first aid can mean the difference between life and death. You all can literally save someone’s life so pay attention.” He passed out pamphlets to the people closest to him, motioning for them to pass them back. While that was going on he set up the classroom’s projector, something a hell of a lot fancier then he had as a kid, and waited until everyone settled again.

“I have an informational video provided by the Red Cross that we have to watch, then we will take a break before going over the hands on stuff like CPR and AED’s. Then we get to take a test, yay.” He joked around, trying to get a chuckle from the crowd but didn’t get much more than a pity laugh. “Don’t worry the test is simple, we will go over it step by step and by the end of the class you all will be certified in First Aid. That sound good? Good. Let's get this started,” with that he hit the play button on the video and as the lady introduced the class to the basics Pat sat off to the side. He had seen this video so often he could almost repeat it word for word.