When Kara Osada-D'Avella was working as an aquatics biologist with the state of Hawaii in 2007, she was in need of cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training but had difficulty finding a class. She ended up taking an instructor course that was offered at a local dive shop. By 2008 she had launched her own CPR business.
Cardio pulmonary resuscitation is an emergency procedure performed to revive an individual's heart to save them from life-threatening conditions, such as drowning or choking.
“I had so many colleagues and friends who also were required to take the training to keep employed,” Osada-D'Avella told the Ohana Times. “I had certified more than 300 people with my little company at the time.”
Today, Island CPR offers a variety of classes, including CPR, swim lessons, and first aid training for lifeguards, adults, children at least 12 years old and emergency medical responders.
“We have our primary location in Kona with more than 3,000 square feet of classroom space and we also travel island-wide for many of our classes and offer blended learning where students can zoom in for lectures,” Osada-D'Avella said in an interview.
COVID-19 has brought not only changes in best practices but also a new clientele.
“It's a lot of people who are doing career changes,” Osada-D'Avella said. “They've lost their job at the hotel or they've lost their job working on a boat or restaurant and they're looking to see where they can stay employed. They are training to be a medical assistant or nurse assistant because those positions are available.”
There are 20,176 coronavirus cases in Hawaii as of Dec. 24, and 280 fatalities, according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard.
“Overall, our CPR classes have definitely been down this year because people are concerned about having to perform skills and be around others, but we do social distance and PPE,” Osada-D'Avella said. “Everyone has their own mannequin. We clean and sterilize everything but businesses are hurting. They just don't have the extra funds to have their staff trained.”
Because Island CPR was deemed essential by the state, the business has survived. Osada-D'Avella has noticed an emerging interest in first aid training.
“Most of the individuals we train in CPR are taking it as a job requirement but the more individuals who know how to recognize an emergency and offer aid, the better,” she said. “We have recently started teaching babysitter classes with the American Red Cross to help increase the knowledge of teens who may be watching younger siblings or friends’ kids with home schooling and we just had a Boy Scout troop finish the class.”
Prior to the pandemic, Osada-D'Avella promoted classes at health fairs and certified hundreds of high school students at a time. These days she’s limited to social media, bulletin boards, radio and word of mouth.
“Most of our tourism has been shut down,” she said. “Everything depends on how that vaccine comes around to see tourism return. There's no right answer to any of this. People are just trying their best at keeping people safe.”