Why Alert First Aid
About Us
Alert First-Aid was started back in 1998 by Jaimie Pierson. At the time, Jaimie was a first aid instructor for the Canadian Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, Heart and Stroke Foundation, and the Lifesaving Society.
He borrowed $1,000 from his parents, and started Alert First Aid with a vision to do something different, and deliver fun, hands-on first aid courses in Victoria, BC. Early on in his career, he realized a few simple things. First, if people get the opportunity to learn in a fun, non-threatening environment, they learn faster. Second, less equals more. This simply means that the less information given, the more people actually retain. Third, first aid is a physical skill. A good instructor will not only teach the mind, but also train the body. A perfect example of where courses typically fall short is when students are able to pass a written exam but fail in the practical exam because they didn't practice enough. How ready are you to respond in an emergency if you can't perform the skill when the course is over?
He focused on the making the course as hands-on as possible, bringing in a range of props and simulated injuries, and developed interactive scenarios that were both realistic and designed to be relevant to course participants in all lines of work. He believed by doing this, he could empower students to feel confident in their skills when they arrived at the scene of the accident.
It looks like it worked - since that time, Alert First-Aid has slowly grown year by year. We acquired 3 other first aid companies, as well as a hospitality training company. Fast forward to 2021, and we now have classrooms in Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo and Vancouver and 25 full-time employees.
Over the years, Alert First-Aid became a one-stop shop for anything first aid related. We now offer a wide variety of first aid, disaster and medical products. Jaimie continues to work on the business. His focus is training staff to make sure clients have the best possible course and customer service experience.
In the Community
Alert First-Aid has been a part of the community on Vancouver Island for more than 22 years, and the lower mainland since 2019. Since the very beginning of the pandemic, Alert First-Aid has been supporting our local communities with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including masks, hand sanitizer and gloves. So far, we've donated over $44,000 of product to more than 36 different non-profit, frontline groups, including:
- 21,675+ earloop facemasks
- 1,350+ KN95 masks
- 250+ bottles of hand sanitizer