While some around town may be marking Valentine’s Day by spending quality time with their honey or secretly cursing those who are doing that, I decided to spend the day in a classroom learning CPR.
However, this wasn’t just any regular CPR class. Held in the Oregon Trail Chapter of the Red Cross building in North Portland, I attended the inaugural “CPR for Singles” event. Walking in, I was definitely curious to see just who would show up and how many. I have to admit I thought there would be 40 women in a room looking around at one another and wondering, “Um, where are the guys?”
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. The class was a pretty good mix gender and age-wise. Although we were all there to learn the latest information on performing CPR (it’s definitely changed since I was first certified), there were multiple opportunities to chat with people. We also had a rotation of partners during the training that allowed us to talk to even more people.
As a bonus, there was beer and wine provided as well as cookies and chocolates provided from Pix Patisserie. Participants in the class also received two free weeks of membership to the Portland Mercury’s Lovelab personals. After the training session ended, a few folks from the class, including yours truly, and the instructors gathered at Pix for a happy hour.
If this has you intrigued and you want to get re-certified or certified for the first time while having a good time and meeting new people, I highly recommend signing up for the next class scheduled for April 4. You may not find love, but putting yourself out there is half the battle.
I can honestly say this has been one of the best Valentine’s Days I’ve had. So many kudos and thanks to the Oregon Red Cross for organizing this event! I’m also happy to say I scored a perfect 100% on my test. If you happen to attend an OurPDX event and choke or fall unconscious, have no fear, I’m now (re-)certified to help!
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Did they cover how to do a self-inflicted Heimlich maneuver? I just watched W., and his clumsy attempts at saving himself from a pretzel inspired one of those note-to-self moments: Learn to defend yourself from sneaky-snacks!
Thanks so much for attending! I thought it was a hit myself…a good mix and really nice people. I’m curious whether there were any real connections — I imagine we’ll find out in the coming weeks!
And yes, Cosmic Charlie, we did cover how to do a self-inflicted Heimlich. You just have to lean over a chair!
Thank you for posting this. I witnessed a near-drowning in Mexico several years ago. I stood by unable to help because my training is so out of date. It was a bad feeling. I need to sign up.
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