This morning I became a certified First Responder in Emergency Response (valid for three years), and I recertified myself in CPR/AED so I can have an extra two months to my certification (I initially took the test last quarter). So I'm also certified in CPR for the Professional Rescuer/AED (for one year). If you ever are poisoned, have injuries or cardiac emergencies, need emergency childbirth, CPR, or suffer from hypothermia, among a ton of other things, don't worry, from tourniquets to triage: I Can Help! ;o)

The Red Cross tests are really dumb. First of all they're grammaticly incorrect for certain questions, some of the questions are not clear and have two semi-right answers, and some of the questions are just plain stupid, like this one:

74. A woman is in labor and the baby is crowning. You tell her to stare at a fixed object in the room as she breathes. This helps:
A) decrease blood flow to both the mother and child
B) hmm don't remember what this choice was..some other stupid statement
C) take the fear away from childbirth
D) the mother concentrate on the pain

I hope you bubbled in C as I did, because duh, don't you know that staring at something takes away all fear from emergency childbirth? Whatever. What a ridiculous question. They really needed to put the answer as "aids in distraction or helps to focus the mother".

While I'm on the subject, you really should see page 351 of my Emergency Response textbook. It's so funny I burst out laughing last night: Figure 15-6 "A victim's posture, such as clenched fists or assuming a fighting stance, may indicate potential violence" And the picture is of this biker dude with a mean face and his fist drawn ready to punch you in the face. Really, it's nice that the Red Cross is so thorough, but at the same time if people really need some of this basic information and aren't smart already I really don't want them to be in charge of people's lives.