If you're looking for a lively class with a high-energy instructor, look no farther than Big Rock, Illinois where you'll find Master Trainer Jean Czinki. Jean was in Eugene recently training new instructors in Medic First Aid Basic, Version 5.

After working as a corporate Director of Training for six years, Jean has been working as an Independent for the past two years. She became a Medic First Aid facilitator in 1984 and estimates she has taught about 2500-3000 classes.

Creating a relaxed, pressure-free training environment is the hallmark of Jean's success. This is an easy thing to do when teaching the Medic courses, according to Jean. Setting boundaries at the beginning of the class helps to keep the day professional, as well as fun. Memorizing students' names really impresses them. It's fairly easy to do if the instructor listens to their name and uses it to introduce them to the next student who walks in the room. Or the instructor can write down their names on a made-up seating chart and glance at it to remind herself.

Jean encourages the students to have fun for the day, sit on the floor if they get tired of their chairs, lean on the wall, do whatever it takes to make themselves comfortable, just so they are paying attention while enjoying the class. Jean adds to her class by offering her students a small treat - "A stick of gum, piece of candy or cookie is like a ten-dollar bill…such a little thing makes them feel special."

Jean has found that some people don't pay attention to break times, instead of 15 minute breaks, her students usually get 7 ½ minutes, or maybe 12 ¾ minutes. They realize the door closes and class starts up without them if they don't come back on time. Jean says, "It's weird but they do tend to return when you give them strange limits!"

Because of the repeat business that she gets, Jean gets to know her students and is able to accommodate their special needs. One particular student has a tendency to get light headed and faint during the bleeding portion of the class. When that segment approaches, Jean reminds the student of what's coming up and to lie down on the floor and put his feet up. Sometimes he has to close his eyes to get past the section. But by paying attention to this student's special needs, he gets the point and has used the skills when needed.

When doing group practice, she likes to remind the students to read only what is in the book such as "Assess the scene," "Assess responsiveness," "Activate", etc. Adding extra phrases like, "what you're going to do first is to…." and, " the next thing you'll want to do is…" is distracting. She maintains this interrupts the memory thought process. Many students have returned to tell of skill use, and say such things as, "I got talked right through the whole process…" or "I felt like a robot, everything was just there!" or "everything we talked about in class happened…". Jean contends that following the methodology pays off when confronted with an actual event.

Jean likes to tell the truth about the unpleasant parts of emergency care so there are no surprises. For example, when a person collapses in cardiac arrest it is not a pleasant sight. One company had a 34-year-old man who collapsed at work. Two young ladies cared for him and did CPR. He was not resuscitated. At a subsequent recertification class, one of the girls expressed anger because she said no one ever tells you what is really going to happen. Practice is on a clean manikin, but "real death is not like that". She had originally been trained through ARC. The second girl related that it was no surprise to her because we had discussed those things in class; for example, his eyes were open and pupils dilated, his color was dark blue, he lost the contents of his bowel, bladder and stomach. While she also felt bad about not being able to bring the employee back, she knew they did everything they could.

Jean finds value in using scenarios saying that they are great fun to use and really bring out the dramatic side of the students. By just changing a few words, you can change the scenario to fit into almost any company's need. These really help for recertification classes, especially when some persons in the class are only taking it for the 2nd time and others are taking it for the 10th time.

Jean likes to use the new "After Shock" Video. Combining it with the AED program seems to make a difference and it also is a video students ask to see again following a traumatic incident.

According to Jean, the whole point of the Medic First Aid family of programs is to keep it simple, concise, tell the truth, and above all enjoy yourself and enjoy the students. "The course teaches itself if you stick to the book!"