CPR Professionals

10/28/2025

Today we recognize National First Responders Day, to honor the courage and dedication of police officers, firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, and other first responders who serve their communities every day. Thank you to Anoka County Sheriff's Office first responders, and all first responders for your selfless acts.

10/28/2025

Maddy was about to take her AP calculus exam when the left side of her body went numb. A teacher helped her into the hallway and called the school nurse as Maddy tried to process what was happening.

"Can I really not feel this side of my body?" she thought. "Is this just stress over the big exam?" Or maybe a migraine: Maddy had a history of migraines that caused numbness and tingling in her extremities.

Her dad John arrived and called her neurologist. An MRI revealed that Maddy was having a stroke.

Her biggest fear initially was how the stroke might impact her senior year. "What's the earliest I can be back in school?" she asked her doctors. "Softball starts in two months. There's no way I'm missing it."

Maddy's youth and overall health helped her recover quickly. She was back in school the following week.

Tests done at the hospital revealed that Maddy's stroke likely stemmed from a previously undiagnosed heart defect she'd had since birth: a hole in her heart that didn't close on its own called a patent foramen ovale. Before the softball season, Maddy underwent a procedure to close the hole.

Two years later, Maddy is a sophomore at the University of Buffalo, pursuing a career in biomedical engineering.

"Seeing what was possible was eye-opening. Like, holy cow, medicine and engineering have come such a long way and are going to go even farther," Maddy said. "It got me excited to start college and see what I can do to impact this world in terms of medical devices and medical engineering."

She is also passionate about spreading awareness that strokes can happen at any age. "This isn't supposed to happen to 18-year-olds," she recalls telling her parents. "We've got to let more people know about this."

10/22/2025

10/06/2025

We wanted to share this about one of our clients. This is a beautiful location and we love driving to Sartell to work with this team.

10/02/2025

We work with some pretty amazing companies! I wanted to share what one of our clients is doing to help our communities.

10/02/2025

What Dave thought was pneumonia turned out to be heart failure – at age 30. It was the result of a heart attack he didn't know he had.

After 12 days in the ICU, Dave was sent home with a long list of medications and a defibrillator vest that would shock his heart back into a normal rhythm if needed. At cardiac rehab, he slowly started getting his strength back. His endurance grew from a 30-second walk to a 10-minute jog.

Dave vowed to do everything he could to get better. That included cutting out alcohol and reducing sodium and getting regular exercise. His heart will always be weaker, but he can lead a full life.

"My philosophy is to learn from yesterday, be happy for today and work toward a better version of myself for tomorrow," Dave, now 35 and a newlywed, says. "I have a life worth living."

10/01/2025

Tara was enjoying a trip to the water park with her husband, Tyler, and kids, Emerson and Declan, when she started to feel dizzy and sick. Her heart raced.

They decided to go home, but Tara wanted to stop at the restroom first. Emerson went, too, to keep an eye on her mother. Less than a minute later, Emerson was running back yelling, "Mom's on the ground."

Tyler found Tara inside a locked stall. He climbed over the top to unlock it and pulled Tara out. Her heart had stopped. She wasn't breathing.

He yelled for help. A lifeguard started to give Tara chest compressions until firefighters arrived and took over. They connected Tara to an automated external defibrillator, or AED. The third shock of the AED brought her back.

At the hospital, doctors were unable to determine what caused her heart to stop. She received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD, that can shock the heart back into a normal rhythm.

Tara’s self-described "stubborn personality" helped her recovery, first in the hospital for more than two weeks and then for another 10 days at an inpatient rehabilitation facility, and through three months of outpatient rehab.

"I'm competitive with myself, so I decided I was going to be the best rehab student," Tara, a first-grade teacher, said. "As I tell my own students, progress is progress. You just keep plugging away."

Tara and Tyler both learned CPR and encourage others to get trained. "Just learn the moves," Tyler said.

Tara said they strive to live by the motto on the T-shirts she had made while raising money to help fight heart disease: "Enjoy every moment."

10/01/2025

What an honor it was for us to present our four students with hero awards last week. These four gentlemen saved the life of a bystander without hesitation.
CPR saves lives!

09/24/2025

I received a call the other day from one of my clients that needed the Heimlich done on her. She was so thankful for her family's training. Don’t forget to call 911 as someone starts the Heimlich!

If you saw someone choking, would you know how to help? Learn how to do this lifesaving technique if someone is choking: https://wb.md/3IrJlVu

09/24/2025

This information comes from one of our clients… Glad to share!

September is National Preparedness Month. Take a few simple steps now to keep you & your loved ones safe in an emergency.

💡Make a plan. Talk with your family about where you will go and how you will stay in touch during an emergency.

💡Build an emergency supply kit. Gather supplies like water, non-perishable food, flashlights, batteries, medications and first-aid supplies.

💡Stay informed. Sign up for local weather alerts and other important updates.

09/24/2025

❤️

Jasmine Hutchison was planning a traditional 21st birthday celebration. Her mother, Hope Hooks, talked about going with her. She even picked out an outfit and asked Jasmine to do her hair.

Yet Jasmine knew her mom might not be up to it.

Hope was 46 and had been dealing with an irregular heartbeat for 10 years. An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) helped regulate her heart rhythm. A week before, the ICD had gone off. Since then, Hope’s heart issues left her so fatigued that she had to sit out her youngest child’s 10th birthday party.

Still, Jasmine held out hope. But on the big day, her mom told Jasmine she was too tired.

So Jasmine headed to a club with her friends. At midnight, her parents called to wish her a happy birthday the minute she turned 21.

The next morning, Jasmine found Hope on the kitchen floor. She wasn’t breathing, and her skin was cold. Hope had passed away on Jasmine’s 21st birthday, Dec. 1, 2014.

“Most people dream of their 21st birthday as being some sort of official welcome party to adulthood, but mine will always be a nightmare,” she said.

Jasmine put a return to college on hold to help take care of her younger siblings, then 10 and 14, and support her grieving father.

“I had to grow up really fast,” Jasmine said.

Jasmine returned to school a few years later, once her family was in a more stable place. She’s since gotten married, moved into her first house, and now lives in Indiana with her husband and two dogs, Hope and Halo.
When she looks back on her 21st birthday, Jasmine recognizes how much strength she found to keep going through her grief.

“In those quiet moments before anyone else arrived after my mom died, it was just me, my mom and God,” she said. “I remember sitting on the floor beside her, overwhelmed and wondering what my life would look like moving forward.

“If you had told me then that I’d be where I am today, I wouldn’t have believed you.”