Training Center Profiles
Meet Your Peers
One of the best things about attending an emergency care tradeshow or conference is the chance to get to know other ASHI and MEDIC First Aid Training Center directors and instructors. With the Training Center Profiles feature in our new newsletter, we’ll bring that experience to you by featuring some of our TCs in each issue. Learn what your peers are thinking about the emergency care industry, the challenges their TCs face and the solutions they’ve found in their quest to make their workplaces and communities safer.
ICE Safety Solutions
Brand: ASHI
Director: Pamela Isom
City, State: Fremont, California
Website: http://www.getice.com
Type of Training Center: External (Training for individuals or organizations for a fee)
Business Structure: For-profit organization
How long have you been in business? More than 20 years
What is the biggest challenge for you and your business? (ranked in order of importance)
- Competition from Cintas & Red Cross
- Expenses
- Administration
- Finding new customers
- Recognition of training programs
How do you market your business? (ranked in order of importance)
- Gaining certification as a woman-owned business & minority-owned business
- Joining and becoming active in trade associations
- Sponsoring trade associations & tradeshows at trade associations
- Website, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
- Speaking as an emergency care expert at public events
Of your business or training investments that cost less than $500, what has given you the best return?
- A Chamber of Commerce membership
- Taking business management classes
- Getting certified as a woman-owned business, veteran-owned business or minority-owned business
What strategies or investments have proven to be a waste of time and money?
- Radio/TV advertising
- Online advertising
- Ads in local publications
Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?
I started ICE Safety Solutions with a hope and a dream: the hope I could earn enough money to balance the demands of raising a premature infant, and the dream of teaching CPR. I loved teaching CPR classes as a corporate trainer and starting a CPR/first aid company was a dream come true! I loved the work and the balance it gave me as a mother. But challenges started to emerge with my second child and the need to find consistent classes. I also had to compete with large companies and well-established safety companies. I had to find my niche. As a new mother, my niche became childcare and daycare centers; the centers trusted me as a trainer and a mom.
As my children entered kindergarten and my husband’s job was threatened with a layoff, I was under pressure to gain more consistent trainings. I branched into evacuation training, earthquake preparedness, fire extinguisher training and OSHA safety training and, in doing so, was able to solicit water districts and city employees. I joined the local Chamber of Commerce and that was a big hit!
Then I became certified as a woman-owned and minority-owned business which gave me access to sell my training to large organizations such as Toyota Motors, PepsiCo and Union Bank. In 2010, 2012 and 2014, my company was recognized as the top woman-owned and minority-owned firm in California. In 2017, ICE Safety Solutions was recognized as the top minority-owned company in the United States, ranking in the top four out of 12,000 certified small businesses.
My advice to my younger self would be:
- Take business classes in accounting, sales, business development and marketing. Learn how to respond to Requests for Proposal (RFP).
- Join and become active with the Chamber of Commerce.
- Become more competitive by expanding into other safety-related trainings.
- Take a class at a junior college in acting or drama to enhance training skills.
- Use technology to grow your business. Get a toll-free phone number and a professional email address instead of Gmail. Make your online image as big as you can and make a big first impression.
What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you have seen/heard in your career?
There is a misconception that if you do a great job teaching, the client will continue to use you. With companies being forced “to do more with less,” I have found local companies now require me to train ALL of their regional locations or national locations. Corporations watch every dollar spent and it is easier to contract with one safety company, rather than over a dozen safety companies to service all of their locations.
Where do you see your Training Center and the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?
In 2023-28 I foresee technology like machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics and self-driving cars to be driving corporate decisions. With advances in medical care, we will be living longer, but the reality of cardiac arrest and stroke will still be prevalent. With this said, I see my Training Center leading the technology revolution by delivering CPR training and our other safety trainings on a virtual reality/augmented reality platform. This technology will be needed by, and useful to, big corporations where they are deploying AR/VR for workplace training and adding this component into their emergency care training.
Where do you go to stay current with the latest industry information and knowledge?
American Heart Association, National Safety Council, FEMA, HSI conferences
Can you share a favorite Good Samaritan story about your students?
Two stories:
- A student called and thanked me for stressing the importance of singling out a specific person to call 911. The student was at a roadside accident and called out, “You in the black jacket, call 911!” The bystander responded, “NO WAY, I am on parole!” Then took off!
- A student called me at 8:00 a.m. and said he performed CPR the night before. He said the victim stayed overnight for testing and was ‘cleared’ to make a full recovery with no brain damage. The student then went on to explain that the victim was his one-year-old son! He found the boy at the bottom of the pool; the older child had left the sliding glass door to the pool area open. The father performed CPR and admitted, “I could hear your voice, Pam, coaching me and encouraging me.” 911 arrived, used their AED and the son made a full recovery.
Honestly, over the past 25 years, I have had so many rescue stories that we have a wall in our Training Center called the Wall of Life. We write up every rescue story and frame it. This is our reminder about why we come to work every day and to never take a single class for granted. Every class is special, because there may be a person there who will live what we teach.
City of Portland (Parks & Recreation, Water Bureau, Maintenance Bureaus)
Brand: MEDIC First Aid
Director: Barbara Aguon
City, State: Portland, OR
Website: www.portlandparks.org or portlandoregon.gov/parks/35300
Type of Training Center: Internal (Training for employees/members at no charge)
Business Structure: Government
How long have you been in business? More than 20 years
Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?
Remember that, in each class, there is a participant that may make the ultimate difference in someone’s life because of what you’re teaching them. Never stop learning from the participants in your classes.
Where do you see the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?
I’m anxious to see if drones will be integrated into the EMS system. I might even like to become a drone pilot, just so I can help move this idea forward. Additionally, I believe technology will allow us to do more interactive training outside of a typical class setting, and that training devices will continue to improve with technology, giving more lifelike experience and feedback to the class participants. I also think emergency care will continue to advance in the area of technology specifically related to the use of mobile devices in two ways: Through using the mobile device to share patient location with 911 dispatch, and by sending photos via the mobile device to emergency responders while they are enroute to the patient, as well as to the hospital ER so they can see and prepare for patient’s arrival.
Of the training investments that cost less than $500, what has given you/your company the best return?
Training our staff on the use of AEDs to complement the AED hardware we have throughout our Parks & Recreation system. Our performance record in using an AED when needed is wonderful – 12 times the AED was used with nine saves. We have 67 machines in our system and our success is definitely attributed to our training on how to use them.
What strategies or investments have proven to be a waste of time and money?
We run a lean machine here so I don’t change things up much.
What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you have seen/heard in your career?
In a training video, students are presented with information on Naloxone as the remedy for an overdose, but are not told that patients may be raging and combative when coming out of their unresponsive state.
Is emergency care or other workplace safety training your primary job function at your organization?
Workplace safety is. Training is a large part of my job, but the upkeep of policies and the day-to-day challenges for workers gets the bulk of my time.
What is the biggest training challenge at your company? (ranked in order of importance)
- Budget
- Coordinating training across multiple locations
- Scheduling, which goes hand-in-hand with coordinating across multiple locations for a decentralized worker population
- Travel time
- Employee downtime
- Other: Technology issues like setting up A/V equipment and the technology used for scheduling and coordinating to ensure the class site is appropriate
What has your company done to make safety part of the day-to-day culture?
We have an all-employee Annual Safety Training and Recognition event. Our safety manager also sends safety messages to the staff, especially in extreme weather or other events that require a higher level of diligence for safety.
Please share a success story about how you increased corporate leadership buy-in and support for your emergency care training efforts.
Having our bureau director participate in acknowledging and recognizing staff after an emergency care incident, including signing the certificates of appreciation to the response team when an AED was used.
What is the most difficult part of managing an internal training center? (ranked in order of importance)
- The administrative functions associated with being a Training Center director, such as instructor development and mentoring, getting all instructors together from all three bureaus for updates, etc.
- Employee scheduling
- Working within a limited budget
- Buy-in from management
We want to hear from you!
Share your wisdom with your TC peers by completing one of our 15-minute profile surveys.
If your TC provides training for individuals or organizations for a fee, click the "External TC" button. For those TCs that offer training for employees/members at no charge, choose "Internal TC."
 
|
New Programs and Materials
Upcoming Tradeshows