If you are opening your home to a child, or going to work in someone else’s home, a CPR and first aid card usually shows up somewhere on the checklist. Foster and adoption agencies ask for it. Nanny placement agencies ask for it. Plenty of families hiring directly ask for it before the first day, and some ask to see the card itself rather than take your word for it.
The frustrating part is that the checklist rarely explains what to book. It says CPR and first aid, leaves it there, and you are left guessing between a dozen listings. Here is how to read that line and get it handled near Round Lake, Grayslake, and Fox Lake.
What to Book When the Paperwork Just Says CPR and First Aid
For foster parents, adoptive parents, nannies, au pairs, and in home sitters, the usual answer is the Heartsaver line of courses. Heartsaver is the American Heart Association’s course set for people who are not healthcare providers, which is what nearly everyone in this category is.
- Heartsaver CPR AED, $95, 2 to 3 hours. CPR, how to use an AED, and choking. This is what most people mean when they say a CPR card.
- Heartsaver First Aid, $95, 1 to 2 hours. First aid on its own. Book this alongside CPR when the checklist names both.
- BLS Provider, $85, 90 minutes. The healthcare provider level course. Book this only if your agency or employer specifically wrote BLS or Basic Life Support.
- BLS Renewal, $79, 45 to 60 minutes. For a current BLS card, and it requires the HeartCode Part 1 online completion certificate before you arrive.
- Every class ends with a two year AHA card issued at the end of class. You leave holding the thing your agency is asking to see.
The courses are described on the Heartsaver CPR AED page and the Heartsaver First Aid page, and the complete list with times and prices is on the class prices page.
If you are not sure which line your agency drew, do not guess. Text a photo of the requirement to 815-690-0664 and get told which course it maps to before you pay for anything.
Why an Online Only Card Is a Risk Here
A web search for a CPR card turns up plenty of results promising a certificate in twenty minutes with nothing but a browser. For a home study packet or an agency file, that is a gamble. Agencies and families who ask for a card are often specific about wanting an American Heart Association card from a class where skills were performed in person, and finding out yours does not count after it has been submitted is a delay you do not want in the middle of a placement process.
There is also the plain version of the argument. Chest compressions are physical. Rate, depth, and letting the chest come all the way back up between compressions are things you have to feel with your hands on a manikin, and the differences between adult, child, and infant technique are easier to hold onto after you have done them than after you have watched them. If you are taking the class because a child will be in your care, the hands on part is the part worth having.
What the Class Is Like
It is a small, practical session, not a lecture. You work on manikins, handle an AED trainer, and go through the sequence until it stops feeling like something you are trying to remember. Choking is covered, including the differences in how you handle it with an infant.
Nobody is called out in front of a room, and questions get answered as they come up. That matters for this group in particular, because foster parents, adoptive parents, and nannies usually come in with specific questions about a specific child, and there is room in the class to ask them.
At 2 to 3 hours for Heartsaver CPR AED and 1 to 2 hours for Heartsaver First Aid, this is one afternoon, not a weekend course. You leave with the card.
Scheduling Around a Home Study or a Start Date
Placement timelines move in ways nobody controls. A home study gets scheduled sooner than expected, a family wants you to start Monday, a caseworker asks for one more document before a file can go forward.
Classes run seven days a week, roughly 9:00am to 6:30pm, with weekend classes on request, and there is no waiting list. You pick a time and that is your time. If the date is tighter than that, emergency scheduling is $150 and is often available the same day or the next day.
If more than one person in the household needs the card, which is common when two parents are certifying together, or if a group of sitters or respite providers needs it at once, onsite group training comes to you with rates quoted per group. Start a quote at the onsite group training page.
Where Classes Are Held
Classes are at 28959 Pilgrims Pass, Lakemoor, IL 60051, a short drive from Round Lake, Grayslake, Fox Lake, Volo, Wauconda, Island Lake, McHenry, Johnsburg, Spring Grove, Crystal Lake, and Woodstock.
Classes are taught by Ray Mamerow, a certified American Heart Association instructor with more than 30 years in healthcare who has been teaching CPR since 2010. Links4Life holds a 5.0 star rating across 49 Google reviews. There is more on the about page, and past students describe their classes on the testimonials page.
Book Your Class
Pick a time at calendly.com/links4life. If your agency packet or the family you are working for named something and you are not certain what it maps to, send a photo of it to 815-690-0664, or get in touch from the contact page, and get an answer before you book.
You will walk out the same day with a two year AHA card to hand over.
Leave a Reply