Nanaimo Standard First Aid and CPR Level C (Blended)

No. CPR C is geared toward ‘lay rescuers’, or people who work in the community but may need to know CPR in case of a life-threatening emergency. BLS, or ‘Basic Life Support’ is geared toward Professional Responders and Health Care Professionals who work in a clinical environment outside of a hospital. CPR C will focus on basic life saving principles and how to do CPR in a variety of situations. BLS will focus on a very specific, detailed approach to performing CPR as part of a 2 person BLS team. BLS also covers more in-depth assessment and life saving treatments using more specialized equipment.

Level C CPR is the highest level of “lay rescuer” CPR and covers basic CPR, the use of AED and a small number of life saving techniques as they apply to adults, children and babies. Unless you work as a professional responder, or a health care professional in a clinical setting, CPR C will meet the needs of any employer who requires you to be certified in CPR. CPR C and CPR recertification are offered as stand-alone courses at Alert First Aid. That being said, CPR C is also included as an integral part of the majority of our first-aid courses, such as Emergency First Aid, Standard First Aid, and Marine First Aid. Most people get their CPR C certification as part of one of these First Aid courses. The only First Aid courses we offer that do not include CPR C are our Worksafe BC Occupational First Aid courses, since those courses are specifically focused on First Aid for co-workers, and don’t touch on children or babies.If you are signed up for one of our OFA Level 1, 2, or 3 courses and need CPR C certification as well, please phone our office, and this can be arranged to be included in your course for a reasonable fee.

Our CPR C courses are now available in a ‘blended’ format which means your classroom time can be cut in half. If you sign up for our blended CPR class, you’ll be sent a link to an online course which you need to complete before the start of your in-class course. The online course focuses on the ‘knowledge’ aspects of the course. This means you only have to spend about 3 hours in the classroom (instead of 6 hours) which will be focused on the ‘skills’ aspects of the course, where you will have practice time with one of our instructors along with other students.

While the answer to this can be a bit complicated, the short answer is no. CPR Certification is sometimes the only requirement for specific employers - usually in professions such as healthcare, or for professional responders - since first aid skills are already ‘built into the job’ in some other way. Because of this we do offer stand-alone CPR C courses on a regular basis. That being said, while you CAN take a CPR course without taking first aid, you can NOT take a first-aid course that has no CPR component. CPR is an integral part of any First Aid course, and CPR topics will be touched on throughout the in-class portion of your first aid class. Any first aid course that you take with Alert First Aid will include CPR certification along with it. In summary: If you need First Aid and CPR certification, you only have to sign up for a first aid course - your CPR certification will be included. If you ONLY need CPR certification without any requirement for first-aid then you can sign up for a standalone CPR course.

While there can be benefits to learning about CPR online, if you require CPR certification for your job then at least a portion of your CPR class will need to be done in a live classroom setting. We do offer ‘blended’ CPR courses which are partially done online to reduce your classroom time, but we cannot issue legitimate certificates without including a classroom portion where the skill can be practiced and evaluated by a certified instructor.

If you need first aid certification for work, you can only do PART of the course online. We offer Emergency First Aid, Standard First Aid, Marine Basic First Aid, and standalone CPR C courses in a ‘blended’ format where you are able to complete the ‘knowledge lessons’ online. This cuts the amount of time in the classroom for these courses fully in half, but it isn’t permitted to issue first aid certification unless half of your course time is spent in the classroom where an instructor can guide you through the practical skills and evaluate that you can perform them well enough to be certified.