National Safety Council has recently announced an alliance with Southwest Airlines. Plans to train SW Airlines ground crew in First Aid/CPR/AED use has expanded to include training their airline’s Flight Attendants as well. Apparently Flight Attendant training is not required, which I have to ask as a more and more frequent passenger on airplanes, who is required or capable of taking care of someone who has a medical emergency while in flight? Is this a well-known fact? Is the best option: “Is there a doctor or nurse on board?”
January 30, 2008 at 1:12 am
I received some important information today from a man whom I deeply respect – Mr. Michael Riggs, National Account Manager for Cintas. He said:
“The Federal Aviation Administration requires all flight attendants to be trained in CPR/First Aid annually. The FAA also requires all commercial passenger planes that are designed to seat 20 or more passengers to have at least one AED on board, a medical kit and all flights attendants to be trained in CPR/First Aid and AEDS.
Southwest Airlines is currently an Affiliate Training Provider for the American Heart Association and have trained their key employees as American Heart Association Instructors.”
The information I had posted previously I had received from the National Safety Council. Perhaps change is in the air. Perhaps the information I received in my newsletter from NSC was incomplete. Either way, I am glad the FAA requires they be trained.
However, in all due respect to their training, on the flight Allison and I were on, no one knew what to do. People panic, people forget. We are human and we are fallible. Refreshing the information is a great way to try to increase the amount of retention between certifications. I think we all as passengers would feel more comfortable knowing that the people, in whose hands we put our lives, are trained and ready to respond if we should need it.