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4-hour Canadian Red Cross Basic Life Support (BLS) in downtown Victoria, for healthcare providers and professional responders.

Victoria - Downtown Basic Life Support

Victoria - Downtown Basic Life Support

4-hour Canadian Red Cross Basic Life Support (BLS) in downtown Victoria, for healthcare providers and professional responders.

5.0★★★★★(5,400+ Google Reviews in Victoria)

Get Basic Life Support (BLS) certification in downtown Victoria in one 4-hour class. This Canadian Red Cross BLS course is for healthcare providers and professional responders: practise high-performance CPR, AED use, and bag-valve-mask ventilation as a team. Train at our downtown centre on Johnson Street, close to James Bay, Fernwood, Oak Bay, and Esquimalt, and leave with a 1-year certificate.

What students should expect

Who needs it? Nurses, care aides, medical and dental teams, firefighters, lifeguards, ski patrol, and students entering healthcare.

Most classes run on weekday evenings. Expect fast-paced, hands-on practice in 2-rescuer teams for adults, children, and infants. Prior CPR experience helps but isn't required.

Certificate & renewal

Get a temporary certificate in class, then a virtual Canadian Red Cross certificate by email. Your virtual BLS Field Guide and certificate are in your MyRedCross account.

BLS is valid for 1 year. To attend a recertification, you will need to bring proof of current (not expired) BLS certification.

Why book with Alert First Aid

Central downtown location — A-920 Johnson Street, Victoria, BC V8V 3N4.

We come to you — private BLS classes for clinics and care teams across Greater Victoria, from Saanich and Langford to Sooke and Sidney.

Top 3 Red Cross Provincial Training Provider 2025Canadian Red Cross Training Partner

Top 3 Red Cross Provincial Training Provider, 2025

An official Canadian Red Cross Training Partner, ranked among the top 3 in BC.

Victoria Google Reviews
5.0★★★★★Based on 5,400+ Google reviews
★★★★★

"…Adam and Madi made the course really fun using humor and real world comparisons to help students understand specific topics…"

Victoria Downtown
★★★★★

"…the instructor was friendly knowledgeable and approachable and made the training fun with some humour."

Victoria Downtown
★★★★★

"My instructor was amazing and I learned so much!"

Victoria Downtown
Full Course Length 4 hours - $105 Register Now
Recertification 2.5 - 4 hours - $65 Register Now

Course Details

Course Content

Our 4-hour Canadian Red Cross Basic Life Support (BLS) course trains healthcare providers and professional responders to deliver high-performance CPR as part of a team, in facility or pre-hospital settings. BLS has replaced CPR HCP as the national CPR standard for healthcare providers. Alert First Aid is a top 3 Red Cross Training Partner in BC.

Your certificate is valid for 1 year. To attend a recertification, you will need to bring proof of current (not expired) BLS certification. Topics include:

  • Glove removal
  • Primary assessment
  • High-performance CPR
  • Adult, child, infant & neonate CPR
  • AED use
  • Airway obstruction
  • Assisted ventilation with a BVM
  • Team roles & communication
  • Cardiac & respiratory arrest
  • BLS special considerations

Need BLS for Your Team?

Alert First Aid brings Basic Life Support directly to your clinic, care home, or workplace — anywhere in BC. Private group courses come with flexible scheduling and volume pricing, and we've trained over 200,000 people across BC.

Request a Group Quote

FAQs

Is BLS the same as CPR level C?

While BLS is definitely more comprehensive than a regular CPR course, it really isn’t appropriate unless you are a professional responder or healthcare worker in a clinical setting. BLS assumes the availability of equipment that most people won’t have, and focuses on how to work as a team with others trained in BLS. If you work in these environments, then BLS is the best course for you! In a CPR C course, you will learn skills that will be much more practical if you are not a professional responder or healthcare worker. You will learn to do CPR on anyone, whether it be an adult, child or baby. You will also learn to improvise your technique based on the equipment available, and use equipment that you are more likely to find in a typical First Aid or AED kit.If you are a member of the community that needs to learn CPR for work, or just to be ready for emergencies wherever they may happen - CPR C is the best course for you!

What is a basic life support course?

BLS, or ‘Basic Life Support’ is geared toward Professional Responders and Health Care Professionals who work in a clinical environment outside of a hospital. 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.

What are the 4 elements of basic life support?

There is a lot of ground covered in a typical BLS course course, but if you wanted to break BLS interventions into 4 basic categories, there would be 2 ‘core’ interventions included in a BLS course which are Assisted Ventilation, and CPR with AED. The other 2 categories of interventions are offered in separate add-on courses which are Airway Management, and Oxygen Therapy.

How long is basic life support certification good for?

BLS certification is valid for 1 year after the day of your course.

IS BLS and HCP the same?

BLS used to exist alongside CPR HCP (Health Care Provider) for many years. Since then,CPR HCP has essentially been deprecated (scrapped) in favour of widespread adoption of BLS as a national standard for CPR among healthcare providers. While CPR HCP essentially taught lay rescuer CPR skills and added some additional topics geared toward professional healthcare workers, in a BLS course the time is spent practicing skills from the professional responder context from beginning to end. The goal of BLS is to become not just familiar, but proficient at performing CPR skills as a 2 person team with others certified in BLS. Since this is a national standard the hope is that widespread adoption of BLS will improve the efficiency and interoperability of healthcare teams the survival rate for patients who are in healthcare contexts where Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support may not be available.

Is BLS different than CPR?

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.

What is BLS training?

BLS stands for Basic Life Support which is geared toward Professional Responders and Health Care Professionals who may have to perform CPR before Advanced Cardiac Life Support is available The goal of BLS training is to become not just competent, but proficient at performing CPR skills as a 2 person team with others certified in BLS. To reach this goal of proficiency, BLS courses focus entirely on CPR (and other critical interventions) in the healthcare context, and do not address CPR for lay rescuers. This means much more practice time with the skills, tools, and teamwork involved in delivering CPR to a BLS standard. Also, certification is only valid for one year, requiring annual practice in the form of a shorter recertification course on an annual basis in order to stay certified. Since this is a national standard the hope is that widespread adoption of BLS will improve the efficiency and interoperability of healthcare workers and professional responders when performing CPR - and ultimately improve the survival rate for patients who suffer cardiac arrest in situations where ACLS may not be immediately available.

Certification

Canadian Red Cross certificates are virtual. You'll receive a temporary certificate at the end of class, and your permanent virtual certificate will be emailed to you. Your virtual BLS Field Guide and certificate are always available in your MyRedCross account. BLS certification is valid for 1 year. 

Recertification

To attend a recertification, you will need to bring proof of current (not expired) BLS certification.

Materials

First Aid Course Materials for Basic Life Support in Victoria

The Basic Life Support (BLS) course includes the following materials:

  • Canadian Red Cross Basic Life Support Field Guide (virtual)
  • Canadian Red Cross Comprehensive Guide to First Aid (virtual)

 

Where to find us:

Visit our Victoria - Downtown training courses here.

Victoria - Downtown

A-920 Johnson Street Victoria, BC V8V 3N4

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Who should take this course?

  • In-facility care providers
  • nursing staff
  • care aides
  • medical and dental professionals
  • pre-hospital care providers
  • fire service
  • rescue team
  • sports-medicine
  • lifeguards
  • ski patrol

Looking for a group class?

If you have a group of people and would like us to come to you to teach a
Basic Life Support course, we offer this course in the following locations:

Greater Victoria | Brentwood Bay | Central Saanich | Colwood | Esquimalt | Highlands | James Bay | Langford | Sidney | Sooke | Oak Bay | North Saanich | Metchosin | View Royal | Saanichton | Salt Spring Island | Gulf Islands

Give us a call at 1.866.282.5378, or email us at to arrange a group course.

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