Get your hearts pumping!

Only a few more days until Valentine’s Day; are you ready with the perfect gift? I bought mine last week (can’t tell you hear what it is of course… but I’m ready).

I love those little chocolates hearts as much as the next person, but I was noticing the other day that Valentine’s gifts are all basically unhealthy-fancy dinners, big heart-shaped boxes of chocolate etc. Have you ever thought about giving something a little more heart warming (with fewer calories)? I have a suggestion. Sure it’s a off the beaten path but what could be a bigger thrill than learning to save a life together?

Pet, infant or adult CPR classes are great gifts for loved ones. Taking a class together provides you with quality time and shows that you really care about your loved ones health and it’s an activity you can do with a family member, friend or romantic interest. If taking the class with a romantic partner you should know that we practice the mouth-to-mouth portion on manikins in the class so don't get any funny ideas (what you do on your own time is none of our business)..

Frugal Valentine’s should check out our discounted CPR Training Days program in March where we offer CPR classes for just $9.00-this happens just once a year. Sure you can’t take the class this month but you can register early and tuck your event confirmation into a mushy, gushy card (and maybe even include some dark chocolate, which is supposed to be healthy in moderation right?-yum) in celebration of the holiday.

What type of off-the-beaten-path Valentine’s Day gifts have you given or gotten?

Since Martha Carlos is already CPR certified she would like (somewhat healthy) dark chocolate for Valentine's Day. If she wasn't up to date on her lifesaving skills, she would take a class AND request chocolate.

DAT Weekend Update

Looking for new and exciting ways to spend your weekend? Throw away the RedEye (actually, please recycle) and get off Metromix.

Here’s a little taste of a weekend with the Disaster Action Team:

Sunday morning, I was woken up around two in the morning with a call from dispatch, advising of a fire on S. Holman. I took a quick look at my schedule, called Sam and we were on our way.

Arriving at the scene of a fire is always a bit unnerving.
This fire in particular greeted us with lights from a dozen fire trucks and police cars that lined the street and cross street.

When the Red Cross Disaster Action Team arrives at a residence that caught fire, there are several steps we take.
First, we check in with the fire department and get any and all information that we can about when and where the fire started and how many people were affected.
Then, we locate the families of the affected buildings or units and ask them to walk us through their home.
From there, we can assess the damage to determine what kind of assistance we can provide – this includes things like food, clothing and shelter to medicine and infant supplies.

Fortunately for my teammate and myself, we were greeted on scene by two rock star volunteers who passed along all the information they had gathered.
We were looking at three single family homes; a fire had started in the middle home and communicated to both homes on either side.
As soon as Sam and I got the “Ok” from the fire department to go inside the homes, we began our assessment. About a half hour later, we had assisted eleven people with food, clothing and shelter for the evening – and a couple of teddy bears for two very brave little boys.

We left the scene about six o’clock in the morning with both heavy hearts and a feeling of satisfaction of fulfilling the mission of a truly great organization: The American Red Cross.

A little bit about us:
Lily Pavone and Sam Gieryn are two of the Disaster Services five AmeriCorps members this year.

AmeriCorps is a volunteer program, similar to the Peace Corps, where members devote a year of their lives to serving the needs of a community here in the United States.

We specifically are working with the Disaster Action Team in Chicago, serving the city and six surrounding counties.

Don’t get burned in the kitchen this Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving my job is to make the pumpkin pies and I’ve done a pretty good job, well except for that one year I forgot to add sugar and made all the kids cry when they tasted my creation (true story). Perhaps my mind was on the next day’s early-morning bargain shopping, I don’t know for sure…but I do know it’s easy to get distracted, especially when family and football present themselves in your kitchen.
Cooking fires are more likely to occur on Thanksgiving Day than any other day of the year according to the National Fire Protection Association so be careful!
We have all kind of tips-from what to do if someone is choking, to how to prevent kitchen fires and how to care for basic cooking related burns on our web site.
Check them out.

What’s your best Thanksgiving memory?