How to Set Up Instructor Expiration Report Emails in Otis

Once upon a time, ASHI and MEDIC First Aid were able to deploy automatic emails to notify Training Center directors when their instructors’ authorizations were expiring. But since then, technology and regulations have evolved, especially in terms of how mass email vendors handle “bounce-back”, or invalid, email addresses. We know that email addresses change, and you might not remember to update those for your TC. But, over time, our database accrued a lot of invalid email addresses!

The problem is, when so many emails bounce back, it blemishes your good name with mass email vendors and you are forced to change tactics. About 4-5 years ago, we had to change the way we send mass emails from our database, and many of those automatic emails you were used to getting from us became outdated because of new security and anti-spam regulations.

So, we moved from sending emails to instead posting notices in Instructor and Training Center Portals. We also gave Training Centers access to see all instructor data in their portal and the OPTION to activate a report in your Training Center Manager to email instructor expiration notices.

The key word here is “option.” HSI cannot, by law, assume that all the members of our large family of TC directors and instructors want to get this email automatically. Instead, you have the power to elect to activate this email notification in your own portal. It’s a quick and easy way to still receive those email reminders in a way that doesn’t compromise our adherence to mass email laws.

Take these steps to activate your report today:

1. Log into your Otis Training Center Manager or Instructor Portal
2. Go to “Reports”
3. Select “Instructor Reports”
4. Click “Instructors Expiring in 90 Days”
5. On the right of the page under “Report Name,” move the toggle for “Email” from No to Yes
   
   
6. Click “Save Report”
7. Enter the email message you want to appear and click “Save Email”
   
   
8. Select the recipient of the email from the Email Recipients drop down menu (Usually a Training Center director selects themselves, but you can select an administrator if that works better for you).
9. Click “Save Email”

Our goal is to help you run your Training Center as smoothly as possible and provide you with the tools to be successful. While we are no longer able to send mass emails about expirations without your consent, you can elect to activate this report to email you these notices. 

If you need any assistance getting this report set up to trigger those emails, give our Client Services team a call at 800-447-3177.

Training Center Profiles

Meet Your Peers

Discover what your colleagues 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.

TC Name: CPR & Safety Classes of RI, Coventry, RI. www.CPRinRi.com

Director: David Lavallee

How long have you been in business?  20 years as an external, for-profit ASHI and MEDIC First Aid TC

What is the biggest challenge for you and your business?

Finding new customers

How do you market your business?

Website, direct mail, and online advertising

Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?

Recognition doesn’t happen overnight. It takes long hours, hard work, commitment, blood, sweat, and tears.

Where do you see your business and the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?

Increasing in the number of people trained, better awareness, and more placement of accessible AEDs

What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you have seen/heard in your career?

Previous instructors giving students wrong or out-of-date information. Also, instructors scaring students with “war stories” and wrong information.

Of your business or training investments that cost less than $500, what has given you the best return?

Word of mouth. Show your commitment and passion for training and your students will tell others. One individual taking a class resulted in them referring a friend who needed to train 20-60 people.

What strategies have proved to be a waste of time and money?

“Blanket” mailings. We do targeted, specific mailings that work better.

Where do you go to stay current with the latest industry information and knowledge?

Websites, conferences, and webinars

Can you share a favorite Good Samaritan story about your students?

Three cardiac arrest saves within 9 months with a shock from an available AED with ROSC and consciousness BEFORE EMS arrival!! One of the students received the Red Cross hero award, but it was actually ASHI training. 

TC Name: Bradley Emergency Services Consulting LLC, Edgewater Park, NJ www.bradleyemsconsult.com

Director: John Joseph Brown

How long have you been in business? 5 years as an internal, sole-proprietor ASHI TC

Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?

Be a better planner, know the area that you are marketing to and your direct competition, and be fully prepared for every meeting.

Where do you see your business and the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?

Expanding, and becoming a premier leader within our direct area. We also plan on pushing more ASHI programs on a national level.

Of your business or training investments that cost less than $500, what has given you the best return?

A good mobile phone! That's my lifeline on the road most of the day.

What strategies have proved to be a waste of time and money?

Email marketing. Many email marketing sites promise that emails are delivered, not sent to spam. We have tried several and found most a waste of time.

Where do you go to stay current with the latest industry information and knowledge?

ASHI website, our peers, and our employees

What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you have seen/heard in your career?

I have personally made the mistake of wanting to give up, but being my own boss is very rewarding and I use that as a "push" each day.

What is the biggest training challenge at your company?

Budget, travel time, coordinating training across multiple locations

What has your company done to make safety part of the day-to-day culture?

We clean every day around the office!

Please share a success story about how you increased organizational leadership buy-in and support for your emergency care training efforts.

I will be honest and just say that I push myself harder each day.

What is the most difficult part of managing an internal training center?

Working within a limited budget. Many times, the cost of materials is an issue; some of our clients pay at the end of the program or with a purchase order, rather than up front. 

TC Name: Melrose CPR, Arlington, TX
www.melrosecpr.com

Director: Melanie Rose

How long have you been in business? 6 years, with 0-2 years as an external, sole-proprietor ASHI and MEDIC First Aid TC

What is the biggest challenge for you and your business?

Finding additional quality trainers to assist with our growing business demands

How do you market your business?

Website, ads in local publications, offering a free public class, and heavy promos on social media

Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?

Be firm in my pricing. I lowered my prices to be competitive, but I lost a lot of money. Once I raised my prices and focused more on quality training and less on discounts, business was booming.

Where do you see your business and the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?

For my business, having multiple locations across the state. For the industry, growing and definitely expanding in first aid or disaster relief training for laypeople.

What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you have seen/heard in your career?

Someone who thinks that they know CPR because they work in a medical facility. In class, we can usually assess skill level pretty quickly to determine if this is true, and many times it's not.

Of your business or training investments that cost less than $500, what has given you the best return?

Social media advertising

What strategies have proved to be a waste of time and money?

Email marketing

Where do you go to stay current with the latest industry information and knowledge?

ASHI, AHA, and Red Cross

Can you share a favorite Good Samaritan story about your students?

In a first aid class, one of the students experienced low blood sugar and was becoming incoherent. The class was able to help immediately based on what we just learned.

TC Name: Bravo Zulu Safety Services PH, City of Navotas, Philippines. www.bravozuluph.simplesite.com

Director: Alphipany G. Roque

How long have you been in business?  5 years, with 0-2 years as an internal, sole-proprietor MEDIC First Aid TC

Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?

That, if you want to succeed, you must try things even if it seems hard in the beginning.

Where do you see your business and the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?

In the next 5-10 years I want to expand my TC externally and bring on additional instructors.

What strategies have proved to be a waste of time and money?

In my experience, no strategy is ever really proved to be “just a waste of time and money.”

Where do you go to stay current with the latest industry information and knowledge?

ASHI/MEDIC First Aid TC Portal dashboard, and reference books

Can you share a favorite Good Samaritan story about your students?

Most of my students are from our Volunteer Emergency Response, helping those injured in emergencies and accidents. That they can deliver first aid with competence and manage incidents is because of their MEDIC First Aid training.

What is the biggest training challenge at your company?

Budgeting and scheduling

What is the most difficult part of managing an internal Training Center?

Employee scheduling and working within a limited budget

TC Name: ITR Treinamentos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. WWW.ITRTREINAMENTOS.COM.BR

Director: Robson Esteves Gomes

How long have you been in business? 10 years as an external, sole-proprietor ASHI TC

What is the biggest challenge for you and your business?

Finding new customers and recognition of ASHI and MEDIC First Aid training programs

Based on what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself when you were starting out?

Our population does not have a good understanding about first aid. We must [be committed to this] training in order to have a healthy population.

Of your business or training investments that cost less than $500, what has given you the best return?

The ASHI ACLS and PALS courses

TC Name: Gateway Community Services, Jacksonville, FL  https://www.gatewaycommunity.com/

Director: Terry Brennan

How long have you been in business?  5 years as an internal, non-profit ASHI and MEDIC First Aid TC

Where do you see your business and the emergency care training industry in the next 5-10 years?

Focusing more on opioid overdose issues

Where do you go to stay current with the latest industry information and knowledge?

Bureau of Medicine Surgery (BUMED)

What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you have seen/heard in your career?

Jamming a spoon in the mouth of seizure patients.

What is the biggest training challenge at your company?

Budget, scheduling, and coordinating training across multiple locations

What has your company done to make safety part of the day-to-day culture?

Discussions, postings, orientations, and providing sustainable training

Please share a success story about how you increased organizational leadership buy-in and support for your emergency care training efforts.

I brought back an opioid overdoser during my first month of employment.

What is the most difficult part of managing an internal Training Center?

Employee scheduling

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."

OSHA BBP Compliance and First Aid Providers: What's the Reality? - Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, we explored the relationship between trained workplace first aid providers and whether or not they were covered under the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard 1910.1030. We used another helpful OSHA document, OSHA Enforcement Procedures for the Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens Directive, CPL 0202-069 as the reference for details about how OSHA enforces the BBP Standard.

In this Part 2 follow-up, we will specifically focus on the requirement to provide the hepatitis B vaccine series of injections to anyone covered under the BBP standard.

First, a little bit of information from the U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the vaccine:

The cost of vaccination is a realistic issue for employers trying to meet the BBP standard for covered employees. Details on hepatitis B vaccination and exemptions for it are found in the compliance document, including a specific exemption for designated first aid providers:

1) Provision for a reporting procedure that ensures that all first aid incidents involving the presence of blood or OPIM will be reported to the employer before the end of the work shift during which the incident occurred. The report must include the names of all first aid providers who rendered assistance, regardless of whether personal protective equipment was used and must describe the first aid incident, including time and date. The description must include a determination of whether or not, in addition to the presence of blood or other potentially infectious materials, an "exposure incident,” as defined by the standard, occurred. This determination is necessary in order to ensure that the proper post-exposure evaluation, prophylaxis, and follow-up procedures required by paragraph (f)(3) of the standard are made available immediately, whenever there has been an "exposure incident" as defined by the standard.

NOTE: For industries not covered by 1910.1030 or 1915.1030, failure to provide appropriate evaluation of first aid incidents (including the determination of whether an exposure incident occurred) and adequate follow-up of exposure incidents (including the provision of the hepatitis B vaccine series free of charge) should be considered for a possible 5(a)(1) citation.

The takeaway is that OSHA specifically provides an exemption process for designated first aid providers under certain circumstances when the provision of first aid care is not a primary job function of the trained employee. This allows employers to avoid facing the up-front costs of hepatitis B vaccination. However, there are a lot of details surrounding the exemption that employers must consider.

As we highlighted in Part 1 of this article, it is the responsibility of the employer to make the determination of whether or not designated first aid providers are covered under the OSHA BBP Standard. If cost considerations are part of making that decision, understanding the details of the first aid exemption for the hepatitis B vaccination requirement may help the employer in making a more informed decision.

NEW Virtual Instructor-Led Training from 24-7

One of the requirements for NREMT and AEMT recertification is a live training component. This can be problematic for responders in remote locations, or simply for those who have overbooked schedules and shifts, leaving little time for travel. A recertification solution that’s growing in popularity is virtual instructor-led training, or VILT.

24-7 EMS has recently added a CAPCE-accredited VILT solution for agencies and individuals who need a cost-effective way to meet those didactic requirements. With VILT:

• There’s no need to travel. The classroom is anywhere there’s an internet connection.
• Busy responders don’t need to manipulate their schedules. The VILT modules are offered over and over again at different times. Students sign up for the times that suit them best.
• VILT presenters are subject matter experts who bring their unique life experiences to the classroom, including experience in international deployments, military, disaster teams, critical care, research, management, and other areas that add authority to their presentations.

Choose from:

• 48-Hour Refresher Program
• 24-Hour Refresher Program
• ALS
• BLS
• Critical Care (Transport and Retrieval)

VILT eliminates scheduling costs, reduces overhead, and establishes a per-provider fixed cost, helping agencies stay under budget. For more information, visit https://24-7.hsi.com/.

Stay in Touch!

We love hearing from our customers -- whenever you have a question, suggestion, or need our assistance with a program approval or Otis technical issue, we’re here for you.

There are several options for staying connected to ASHI and MEDIC First Aid:

Phone: 1-800-447-3177

Email: emergencycare@hsi.com

Website contact page: https://emergencycare.hsi.com/contact-us

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ASHIandMedicFirstAid/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashimedic (@ashimedic)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/american-safety-&-health-institute/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashiandmedicfirstaid/

Note to those on social media: If you’re already following HSI, be sure to add the ASHI and MEDIC First Aid pages as well! Remember to tag your posts with #ASHICPR and #MFACPR.