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posting for aiden and isaac's certification post.

Gigi Gennaro

Gigi perked up as the course began, even as she noticed some of the other attendees slipping into a classroom daze. Nurse Julie was a good teacher, and it was easy to follow along with the theory. The booklet helped as well, and Gigi read along in it, rather than taking her own notes. It was simple, straightforward – it was designed to be.

After the nurse’s demonstrations, though, it was time to try it herself, and that was more daunting than the lesson. Gigi flipped back to the booklet’s first page, and regarded the dummy before her, in all its plastic shirtless glory. Poor thing, it was going to be hard to keep him alive when he didn’t have any limbs. But she had to try.

So, step one. Gigi liked steps. They were neat, they could make anything seem doable. The first few minutes of the course were kind of familiar, similar to the previous first-aid course she’d taken. Danger. Response. Airways, breathing… and here they were. She took the dummy by the shoulder, giving it a gentle shake, calling out a whispered ‘hey, are you sleeping?’. Even with everyone else doing the same thing, she couldn’t bring herself to really shout. She checked the mannequin’s neck for a pulse, then shook the other shoulder, in case it was paralysed on one side. When the mannequin continued to be unresponsive plastic, it was time to move on to step two, calling for help. Again, she didn’t want to shout, so pulled her phone from her handbag, laying it on the desk as if passing it to an invisible bystander. First Aiders didn’t call 911. That was the job of someone who wasn’t trying to stop the bleeding.

Step three. Gingerly, Gigi put her palm on the unconvincingly flesh-coloured abs, against the centre of the chest. It… wasn’t a comfortable place to lay her hands. It had some bad connotations to it. Would CPR be enough, if the starseed wasn’t there? Would she even be able to tell? Mentally, she backtracked to Step 1, and added 1a – check for chest-groping negaversers in the vicinity. Steeling herself, she set the heel of her hand against the breastbone, and layered her other hand over the top, as the nurse had shown, interlacing her fingers, squaring her shoulders, putting her weight into the first compression--

Her hands flew away from their position as the rubber chest popped back up, startling her. There was more resistance than she’d expected, and far more push-back. Ribs, doing their job. She guessed that was a good thing, but she was supposed to do this fast. She’d had broken ribs, it wasn’t a nice time. But better than having no pulse.

With a deep breath, she put her hands back into position and gave it another go. This time she was ready for the chest rising back up, waiting for it to fully expand before pushing down again. It only took a moment. She pushed down again. She was slow, and the chest was heavy, but this was a life on the line. Staying alive, staying alive. Others were singing, but she was more or less holding her own breath, waiting for the mannequin to breathe. A few more pumps and she finally had the rhythm right, fast enough to mimic the absent heartbeat. Now she just had to keep it going until the nice nurse rocked around to check if she was doing it right.


(578 words)

Matt Duffy

Before Kyle could finish his conversation with Matt the woman had started with her demonstration of CPR on the dummy. Every so often he would glance over at Kyle who with quite some adorable student quirkiness was eagerly paying attention to every word the woman was saying and even taking notes which in his opinion was far beyond the call of need. Matt on the other hand didn’t pay any attention, he had to do this every year already and it was the same information over and over again and considering that his own card was still valid for a few months he really didn’t need the certification but he was there to amuse his guest, partner? He wasn’t entirely sure what he should refer to him outside of tutoring.

When it came time to start practicing on the dummies Matt also peeled off his own tux jacket and folded it neatly before laying it on the floor. He thought about rolling up his sleeves but considering the night was not over there was no reason to put too many creases in early on. Like Kyle he followed along, checking the victim, making sure they were unconscious and not breathing before calling for help. The making sure the airways were clear, the chest compressions and rescue breathing all followed suit rather naturally though he did resist the whole singing of the song. The only real difference was in a hospital situation calling for help wasn’t necessary typically there were other protocols but no one there needed to really worry about that there was a good chance none of them would ever have to do CPR.

After the practice they went through the test, each giving a full demonstration of what they learned to the instructor, Matt completing his rather flawlessly considering as he watched Kyle complete his.

“No, I don’t mind really.” There was a warm charming smile on his face as he looked at Kyle.



((543 with previous post))

Your CPR instructor makes her way to each station, bright blue eyes watching as you perform the techniques you've learned. Those eyes tend to widen around a few individuals as they pound the living daylights out of their dummy, so she gently reminds you that you're not beating life back into them, just pumping their heart enough to keep them alive until medical relief arrives.

Overall, she seems thoroughly impressed with what you've learned - way to go, you! She returns to the front of the room and claps her hands together before moving to her desk and retrieving the sign-in clipboard.

"Each and every one of you should be so very proud of yourselves! Thanks to your participation, we now have over a dozen more citizens trained to save lives out there in the city."

Her thumb runs down the list, ensuring first and last names are both written down by the lines. "I will do my very best to have these ready in the next hour - why don't you go check out some of the other seminars and come back? They should be ready by then!"

You are now dismissed from class, having learned an invaluable lesson that you probably hopefully maybe won't need to use anytime soon.

(((Please make your exit post to finalize your participation in the event and thank you so much for taking the time to join us.

Be sure to fill in your post by/check back in the thread come Friday for your card and congratulations on becoming an even more upstanding citizen than you already are!!)))

Waiting to get properly checked off didn't take as long as Rory might have thought, because the class had a higher turn around than she'd anticipated. Still, she was pleased to know that her previous training wasn't totally useless as Jules announced that they would be receiving their certifications in an hour or so.

Part of her wanted to go up to the woman to try and chat, but thought better off it and gathered up her belongings, carefully closing her notebook and tucking it back in the bag that she slung across her shoulder. Once she pushed her chair back into place, Rory made to exit, a lingering glance thrown the nurses way before she shook her head and slipped out the door.

Sure, she hadn't interacted with anyone present, but at least she'd learned something useful! She'd return for her certificate at a later time.
147 words

Will post in a bit. ::Nods::

Gigi Gennaro

Gigi’s arms were aching by the time she sensed the nurse coming up behind her to check her progress. She focused on the singalong, lips barely moving with the words that were surely going to be stuck in her head for days and days. Fortunately, their tutor seemed pleased, and Gigi relaxed a little as the class was over, the mannequin’s life saved. She let her hands fall away, watching the torso expand one last time.

Please, she thought, let this be a skill I never have to use, like algebra and how to make pasta from scratch. Just a useless thing that can come out for trivia nights. A new certificate to add to her collection, nothing more.

She shook out her hands as she stood to leave, noting the way the exercise had started up a bruise on the heel that had been pressing into the plastic. But she’d been doing it right.

“Thanks so much for the lesson!” she said to Nurse Julie, with a wave. She didn’t know what else there was to see around the new hospital, but hopefully nothing that was quite so hands-on.