I want to say that I took this Standard First Aid certificate course solely because I like helping people, but the truth is I was initially pushed into completing it in order to check off one of the requirements for a potential summer job. The price ($110) and the length (16 hours) of the course have always been a reason why I’ve struggled to take the initiative to register for the course, so I was feeling doubtful when paying for the course, and honestly a little annoyed that this course was going to take 16 hours of my Saturday and Sunday.
There are two options at McGill to register for the SFA certificate course; either through MSERT, McGill’s Student Emergency Response Team, that offers Red Cross Standard First Aid & CPR courses, or other sessions offered by McGill (but it’s about 10 dollars cheaper through MSERT). Make sure to sign up a few days or at the very least a day in advance, just in case it gets full or cancelled if there are not enough people signed up for it.
Waking up at 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday is never fun, but you gotta do what you gotta do, or at least what you paid for. They asked us to arrive at the gym at 8:45 for further registration. The Red Cross requires that the 16 hour course be completed fully by the participant, so you are required to be present in the room for the full 8 hours of that day (although if your instructor is awesome, and there aren’t too many people in the course, it goes by much faster and you may get to leave a bit earlier).
The first thing they will give you is the manual booklet, which will become your baby for the next two days. Know it and read it! The first few chapters will be a little boring as they consist mostly of standard procedures that you are probably already aware of, but the instructor will give you hints about what materials may possibly be on the exam, a little wink-wink, so I would pay attention.
There were so many protocols to follow in emergency situations that I never knew about, but that I now know are very essential to follow in an emergency situation; for example, how to directly address a bystander calling 9-1-1 and to make sure that they understand the conditions of the patient, so that they can explain the situation to the paramedics. Another important point is to make sure that they report back to you after the call. These are little, but important things that can easily be forgotten in urgent situations, but a certified person should know after the course.
The course really teaches you a wide range of First Aid skills including how to provide care in a variety of emergencies ranging from choking to being stabbed. My favourite part of the course was probably learning all the hands-on care, like learning to do CPR on a dummy, and abdominal thrusts on both adults and infant dummies. Getting on the floor and re-enacting possible emergency situations was such a special experience; you feel a lot more confident and hopefully prepared for an actual emergency in the future.
While the exam for the certificate is not too hard, if you were present and listening during the course, and you have some common sense regarding safety like calling 9-1-1 when someone is unconscious and not breathing, the test will be a breeze for you. You only need to get 75% or above to pass, and our instructor told us no one had failed while she was on the job, so there was no need to worry. However, being the complete goodie goodie that I am, I studied for 2 hours the night before and throughout Sunday’s class before the test, so I wasn’t too surprised when I passed with flying colours.
Example of the certificate card you will receive.
It’s such a rewarding feeling to be given your very own certificate card that you can pull out when needed, and it can be a great addition to your resume that would certainly impress your potential employer. It’s such a valuable skill to have in the workplace or at home, or pretty much in any environment. I realize it’s difficult to make time for and spend the money on the course, but at the end you leave the course feeling more rewarded than you could ever have imagined. Make sure to sign up for the next session of the course through MSERT in March!
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