Training Programmes

Basic Life Support (BLS), together with the safe use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) when one is available, is the first level of care for a person in cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest happens without warning, when the heart suddenly stops beating properly. Its electrical mechanism stops working, and so no blood reaches the brain and the other vital organs. At that moment, knowledge and composure can save a life.

What is the difference between cardiac arrest and a heart attack?

Although they are often confused, they are two different things. A heart attack is a "plumbing" problem: an artery supplying the heart becomes blocked, the heart keeps beating, but part of it is not properly supplied with blood. Cardiac arrest is an "electrical" problem: the heart stops completely, because its electrical impulse is interrupted. A severe heart attack can, however, cause cardiac arrest.

How do I know someone has suffered a cardiac arrest?

The signs are immediate: the person collapses, is not breathing, has no pulse and does not respond if you speak to them or shake them.

What is the first thing I should do?

Call the emergency services (112) immediately. Then, if you are trained, start Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). Time is your greatest opponent.

CPR is not knowledge only for health professionals, it is for each of us. It may prove to be the most valuable lesson of your life, the one that gives a fellow human a second chance.

No prior knowledge is required to attend this training. Anyone can take part.

Paediatric Basic Life Support (PBLS) provides specialised training for anyone who works with or comes into contact with children and may find themselves facing a child in (imminent) cardiac arrest.

Focusing on rescue techniques for children, the programme prepares you to handle paediatric emergencies with confidence and the right care. It is especially important for professionals in pre-school and school education, public and private, who look after the most precious members of our society.

Why is paediatric CPR important?

Unlike adults, where cardiac arrest is often of cardiac origin, in children it is mainly due to respiratory causes, such as obstruction of the airway by a foreign body (choking). That is why immediate recognition of the problem, with an initial 5 rescue breaths and then alternating chest compressions and breaths, is vital.

Immediate CPR by bystanders can increase a child's chances of survival by 2 to 3 times. Conversely, for every minute that passes without resuscitation, the chances drop dramatically.

What should I do if a child is choking?

The management of choking is common to adults and children, but differs in technique, mainly in the force applied. In partial (mild) obstruction there is still a cough reflex: we encourage the person to cough and stay next to them until the foreign body is expelled. In complete obstruction the person communicates with gestures but cannot cough. Calmly, we let them know we are there to help and apply alternately 5 back blows and 5 abdominal thrusts (in an infant, chest thrusts with 2 fingers). If the person collapses, CPR begins immediately and at the same time we call 112.

Can a non-specialist perform CPR on a child?

Yes. According to the ERC, even someone trained only in basic adult CPR can safely perform it on a child. Any intervention is better than inaction. Specialised paediatric training, such as PBLS, provides the best techniques and increases effectiveness.

By the end of PBLS you will be able to:

• recognise and assess an unconscious child or infant
• perform rescue breaths and chest compressions
• safely use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) on children
• place a child or infant in the recovery position
• manage a child or infant who is choking

Immediate Life Support (ILS) trains health professionals to manage a critically ill patient and a cardiac arrest in the first, decisive minutes, until the resuscitation team takes over.

This is exactly the knowledge needed by the healthcare staff who make up the rapid-response (blue) teams of hospitals and health facilities. When a patient deteriorates, the first to reach them is rarely the full resuscitation team. It is the department's own staff, who must know what to do immediately and correctly.

It is a one-day, multidisciplinary programme, built around the ABCDE approach to the deteriorating patient. Compared with BLS, it goes further into diagnostic skills: airway management, recognition of heart rhythm on the ECG and rapid, safe defibrillation, with an AED or a manual defibrillator. It follows the logic of Advanced Life Support, focusing however on the core knowledge and skills that every health professional needs in practice.

In this way, ILS acts as the frontline resuscitation programme for healthcare staff: the bridge between basic life support and specialist care.

The Basic Instructor Course (BIC) is the step for anyone who wants to move from "I know how to save lives" to "I teach others to save lives". It prepares selected candidates to become certified ERC instructors in the BLS and PBLS programmes.

The programme does not focus on resuscitation techniques, which are assumed to be already known, but on how you teach: adult education methods, organising practical exercises, and the art of feedback, so that the trainee genuinely improves.

It is aimed both at health professionals and at members of the public who stood out during their Provider course and were proposed as future instructors (Instructor Potential).

Prerequisite: a current ERC BLS or PBLS certification.

After completing the BIC you become an Instructor Candidate. You teach under supervision in at least two programmes and, if your performance is judged sufficient, you are upgraded to a full ERC Instructor.

As a Recognized Educational Partner of C-TECC, we provide the expertise needed by those who are called to give assistance in high-threat environments.

What is C-TECC for First Responders?

Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) transfers the military lessons (TCCC) into the civilian sector. The "First Responders with Duty to Act" module is designed for professionals who have a duty to intervene (Police, Fire Service, Coast Guard, rescuers), often before specialist medical help arrives.

Why is this training essential?

In incidents such as active threats, explosions or mass casualties, traditional first aid is not enough. The seminar teaches how you save lives while the threat is still active, through the three phases of care:

1. Direct Threat Care (Hot Zone): care under direct threat.
2. Indirect Threat Care (Warm Zone): care in a relatively safe environment.
3. Evacuation Care (Cold Zone): care during evacuation.

What you will learn

The seminar is highly practical (hands-on) and includes:

• Bleeding control: use of a tourniquet and haemostatic gauze
• Moves: casualty extraction techniques
• Airway management in a tactical environment
• Managing chest trauma: chest seal and recognition of pneumothorax
• The M.A.R.C.H. protocol: the prioritisation of life-saving actions
• Extrication techniques: moving a casualty under pressure
• Stress drills
• Casualty evacuation
• Scenarios in simulated conditions

At Life Support Hub, our instructors turn field experience into knowledge, using modern equipment and simulation scenarios.

"Preparation is not fear, it is responsibility."

Certification

Successful participants receive an internationally recognised certification, confirming their ability to operate according to the latest standards of the Committee for Tactical Emergency Casualty Care.

In nature, help is not always close by. When the nearest hospital is an hour or more away, your knowledge makes the difference. Wilderness First Aid prepares you to recognise, treat and manage injuries and sudden illness far from organised medical care.

It is aimed at climbers, hikers, mountain guides, outdoor instructors and anyone who moves or works in remote areas. The programme is based on the manual Wilderness First Aid: Emergency Care in Remote Locations and combines theory with hands-on practice in realistic scenarios.

Indicative topics: management of wounds and bleeding, shock, spinal and limb injuries, splinting, and treatment in conditions where evacuation is delayed.

Pets are members of the family, and in an emergency your first moves can save their life. The programme teaches you to provide immediate, temporary care to dogs and cats until you reach the vet.

It is aimed at pet owners, pet sitters, breeders, groomers and anyone who cares for animals. No prior knowledge is required.

Indicative topics: safely approaching and restraining an injured animal, choking, bleeding control and bite wounds, CPR on a dog and cat, burns, poisoning, and preparation for emergencies.

Stop the Bleed was created by the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons, drawing on the scientific research of military medicine into combat trauma. Its goal: to bring to the general public the most effective techniques for controlling life-threatening bleeding.

The training is aimed at everyone, regardless of profession, and applies to any case of serious bleeding, whatever its cause. Because heavy bleeding can prove fatal within a few minutes, often before help can arrive.

"The worst thing after death is a death that could have been prevented!"