Red Cross Training in Illinois

CPR Training

Red Cross CPR classes can help you deliver life-saving care during a breathing or cardiac emergency. With a variety of techniques covered, including hands-only, traditional CPR (hands and rescue breathing), and rescue breathing only, as well as training on how to perform CPR on adults, children and infants, we'll prepare you to provide care when it's needed most. To earn your certification, check out the adult and pediatric CPR classes available in Illinois.

If you've already taken CPR classes in Illinois and earned your certification, you can use refresher materials from the Red Cross to help maintain your skills. And although it might sound like an unnecessary step, according to a research review conducted by the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council, CPR skill retention begins to decline within a few months of training – and less than half of course participants can pass a skills test one year later. So, in order to help you keep your skills sharp, we've developed a number of refresher materials that take just a few short minutes to complete online, but can make all the difference when help is needed.

BLS Training

The Red Cross delivers BLS classes in Illinois that allow you to provide important patient care when it's needed most. Throughout your training, you'll learn new techniques in scene safety and assessment, CPR/AED use for adults, children and infants, plus obstructed airways, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and teamwork, precautions, legal considerations, and more.

After completing your Illinois BLS certification, keeping your skills fresh is critical to providing quality care that helps improve patient outcomes. In order to help you stay sharp, we've developed online refresher activities that take just a few minutes to complete, but can make all the difference when you're in the field. In addition to our refresher materials, you'll also have access to the BLS handbook that you used in your training. With this, you can study a wide range of procedures and ensure that you're ready for anything.

AED Training

An automated external defibrillator, or AED, works by checking the heart's rhythm, then delivering an electric shock to the heart of someone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. AEDs are the only effective treatment for restoring a regular heart rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest. To learn how to use this important device, which is now readily available in office buildings, shopping centers, airports, sports stadiums, and more, sign up for AED classes in Illinois from the American Red Cross.

Whether you need full, OSHA-compliant certification or simply want to gain the skills and confidence necessary to help save a life, we offer a variety of Illinois AED classes that can help you get the training you need. With courses available during the day, evening, and on weekends, and available online, in person, or via our blended Simulation Learning experience, which combines online coursework with an in-person skills session, you can earn your Illinois AED certification, and learn how to provide critical care during sudden cardiac arrest.

Note: If you need OSHA-compliant certification, only in-person and Simulation Learning courses satisfy the requirements for full certification.

Lifeguarding Training

In Illinois, lifeguarding classes from the American Red Cross are available in person, and via our blended Simulation Learning format – which combines online coursework with an in-person skills session. Both courses allow you to develop the skills needed to become a professional lifeguard, including first aid and CPR/AED training, rescue techniques, teamwork skills, and more. Classes use written testing and hands-on training, and successful completion of both portions of the class will result in earning your Illinois lifeguard certification – making it possible to start your career as a lifeguard.

If you need to complete your Illinois lifeguard renewal, the American Red Cross can help. Anyone with a certification that is still valid (or within 30 days of expiring) can take an abbreviated review class, which will allow you to update your skills, continue working without a lapse in verification, and extend your certification for another two years. However, if your certification expired more than 30 days ago, Illinois lifeguard recertification can only take place if you complete the full lifeguard certification course. Find details on all of the classes available in your area.

Swimming Training

Learn-to-Swim providers offer swim classes in Illinois that follow Red Cross guidelines and progress in a specific way. The program focuses on building skills one step at a time, making it easy for kids to build confidence in the water. Each course is led by certified, knowledgeable, caring instructors who will help your child become comfortable in the water, learn basic swimming, develop and refine their stroke, and learn to swim with ease and efficiency. Learn more about the swim training available in Illinois from our Learn-to-Swim providers.

Note: Children ages 6 months and older may participate. Parents of any students ages 5 and younger should expect to take an active role in their child's swim training.

To augment our swim classes in Illinois, we've developed a swim app that can help you continue growing as a swimmer between lessons. The free app includes a swim lesson progress tracker, educational games and videos, as well as information on drowning prevention and responding to emergencies that can help keep your loved ones safe in and around water.

Babysitting Training

At the Red Cross, older teens and adults can take babysitter training in Illinois that's designed just for them. Our Advanced Child Care class is an online course that can help older teens, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends of parents, gain the skills they need to care for children of any age. With information on bottle feeding and diapering, plus safety, child behavior and discipline, and more, you can learn to provide even greater care to the kids in your neighborhood – or help take care of the kids in your own family.

The American Red Cross offers babysitting classes in Illinois that are based on the latest science, and are guided by the nationally recognized experts on our Scientific Advisory Council. Throughout your training, we'll not only help you learn basic child care and first aid, but how to recognize and manage certain behaviors, choose age-appropriate activities, develop your own leadership skills, create a successful babysitting business, and more. Find details on the Illinois babysitter training available in your area.

First Aid Training

When you sign up for an adult first aid class, your training will focus solely on providing care to adults. Throughout class, your knowledgeable instruction team will help you learn how to deliver care to an adult suffering from an asthma attack, an allergic reaction (or anaphylaxis), as well as heart attacks and strokes. In addition, you'll learn how to help during choking incidents, how to care for those suffering from external bleeding, and a wide range of other illnesses, ailments and emergencies. Get more information on the adult first aid classes in Illinois.

In addition to basic first aid for adults and children, you'll find a wide range of Red Cross classes that can help you take your skills to the next level. Whether you want to learn to teach first aid, earn a certificate in wilderness and remote first aid, or need to learn basic life support for healthcare providers, we offer a wide range of first aid classes in Illinois, as well as and related continuing education units that can help further your skills. Explore the training opportunities available in your area.