Many of you utilize my company, Ruby Outdoors, to teach your staff American Red Cross certification courses.

Here is the most up-to-date info regarding certification courses based on guidance from the American Red Cross as of 5/8/2020.

Any person with a current certification in CPR/First Aid/AED, Lifeguarding, or Wilderness First Aid that expires between March 1-June 30

The American Red Cross has created a 120-day extension to all current certifications that expire between March 1-June 30. The extension is free.

I 100% recommend this option for any person who is expiring between March 1-June 30 in any of the above certifications. The new courses are adapted courses so in my opinion, it is preferred to extend the current certification. For Lifeguarding and Wilderness First Aid, this is the most certain way to maintain certification currently.

What should I do to get this set up for my staff?

You can send the instructions to your staff to process their own extension. Instructions are available above where there is a link where it says “120-day extension.” Please copy and paste the information from that document rather than sending that document to them directly.
OR, if you would like your certification extensions to be processed in a batch to get the requisite documentation for your certs, please be in touch and I’ll send you a handy-dandy form to fill out to make that process go like butter. I kindly request a one-time, all inclusive $20 payment to help cover my time to do the button clicking for you—but if you don’t have the funds to make that happen, be in touch and we will work it out.

New certifications

This section outlines procedures as they stand as of April 20, 2020 for folks seeking a new or lapsed certification from the American Red Cross.

First Aid/CPR/AED

The American Red Cross currently has an adapted CPR/First Aid/AED course available following social distancing guidelines (that is, this course can be offered when an area is still following strict social distancing guidelines). A few things to note:

It is strongly encouraged that this course is completed in the blended learning format with all the video content being watched and completed by participants online prior to arrival at camp or prior to the skills check.
Skills check can be offered in person or virtually. There are some skills that will not be practiced (specifically choking procedures and any application of direct pressure for controlling bleeding). All skills will be practiced on manikins.
There must be a 1:1 student to manikin ratio during the skills verification and extensive cleaning procedures are required.
For the AED certification to be completed, all students must have hands-on time with an AED trainer. If AED trainers are shared, they must be cleaned and sanitized in between users.
Students and instructors are expected to wear masks during in-person training except when practicing rescue breaths.
For entirely virtual training: there must be a 1:1 manikin, AED, and camera ratio to participants separated by at least 6 feet. This could be accomplished with a collection of webcams and mobile devices.
These guidelines apply not only to CPR/First Aid/AED but also for the CPR for the Professional Rescuer/First Aid that is typically offered as part of the Lifeguarding course.

What should I do to get this set up for my staff?

Decide if you want to offer a blended learning or entirely virtual training.
Decide how you would like for the skills verification to occur—primarily how will your participants get access to manikins, PPE, and AED trainers and if you need to offer several smaller sessions. Course time for skills verification is approximately 3.5 hours.
Be in touch with Ruby to schedule your course.
Cost for the course in any format is $36/per person and a $300/day instruction fee. *ACA-Accredited camps are eligible for a discounted per-person price.

It may be helpful to know:

I have 8 adult CPR manikins, 4 infant CPR manikins and 4 AED trainers available for use or rental. 2 pairs of gloves and 1 disposable breathing barrier are included per person in the cost of the course. If only renting gear, the cost of a training kit is $30 per person.

Lifeguarding

At this time, the American Red Cross guidance for Lifeguarding is that the course cannot be completed while a local area is under strict social distancing guidelines (shelter-in-place / stay-at-home)

How do I train my guards then?

Good question. Your best bet currently is to rely on previously certified guards. Make sure you take note of the 120-day extension noted above. These are not issued automatically and do require some button-clicking via Red Cross’ system that your course participants or I can do.
There is guidance available listing that life-saving does take precedent over following social distancing guidelines so it is “legal” to make lifesaving rescues as your lifeguards do their jobs this summer.
If you want to still offer a course, this is how I would recommend doing so:
- Have any one interested in taking the Lifeguarding course complete the ~8 hours of Blended Learning Lifeguarding course content online. This is available via a Direct Link and requires no financial commitment to make available to your staff. *Please note I am encouraging all camp programs looking to offer a Lifeguarding certification course to their staff to offer it as a Blended Learning option this year.
- Schedule a skills verification day (or days if your class is larger than about 10 people) with Ruby. If you have more than ten folks and are on a tight window for completing your skills verification for lifeguards, let Ruby know and she can try to recruit an additional Lifeguard Instructor.
- Wait for social distancing guidelines to be relaxed or superceding guidelines to be issued by the county department of health, the American Camp Association, the American Red Cross, or the CDC. Consider that this may not occur until your season is underway. Consider if it is possible to pull these staff during a program day to complete their Lifeguard Skills Verification.
Cost for Lifeguarding is $375 per instruction day plus $45 per person. *ACA-Accredited camps are eligible for a discounted per-person price. This fee is only assessed for participants that complete the in-person skills verification and thus successfully receive a Lifeguarding Certification from the American Red Cross.
This price includes a CPR mask for all participants to keep as well as gloves to utilize during the skills verification check and other rescue gear.
I have two rescue tubes available for use in the course. It is preferred that all participants can have their own rescue tube. Otherwise strict cleaning protocols are required in between uses for participants and may require additional time for conducting the skills verification.
The cost of the course does not include any applicable facility rental fees.
Please note: When possible while operating under pandemic protocols, it is preferred that skills verification sessions are conducted in chlorinated-pool-settings. There is currently simply a lack of research on spread of this coronavirus in water, especially during aquatics activities. Water is typically a poor agent for virus transfer. Initial research indicates that that chlorinated water does likely offer a slight extra barrier to virus transmission but it is unclear if there is any significant difference.

Wilderness First Aid

At this time there is no certain option to conduct American Red Cross’ Wilderness First Aid certification course due to the inability to offer the course and follow strict social distancing guidelines. If social distancing guidelines are eased (to be clear, there has been no clear definition of “eased” offered by the ARC), a course may be offered. Please rely on currently certified Wilderness First Aiders and their 120-day extension. There is no online/blended learning option for this course.

Could these guidelines change before camps open?

Yes. It is possible. I continue to monitor the ever-changing updates and guidelines. As stated above, if there is new guidance issued by the CDC, American Camp Association, or the American Red Cross that relaxes guidelines listed above, Ruby Outdoors will follow those guidelines assuming they are in alignment with county health orders as well. Local guidelines will be considered first, followed by any summer camp industry-specific guidelines that are issued.