Colorado Springs, California (NAPSI) - More than 9.2 million children are treated in the ER for nonfatal injuries every year, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but your kids don’t have to be among them. You’ll be better able to protect your youngsters if you and their other caregivers learn a few skills that could save a child’s life

What You Can Do

Fortunately, these are easier to acquire than many parents realize. That’s because the American Heart Association has created a new online course designed to meet the training needs of child care providers while also being a comprehensive resource for parents, grandparents, teachers, babysitters or anyone responsible for the safety of children.

What You Can Learn

Combining online and hands-on components, this one-stop-shop course teaches child care providers and parents critical first aid skills, ranging from how to create a safe environment, to preventing injuries in the first place, to lifesaving CPR.

The course covers illnesses and injuries, bleeding and bandaging, allergic reactions and how to use an epinephrine pen, asthma, drowning, bites and stings, burns, choking, CPR, using an Automated External Defibrillator and how to help.

What One Father Found

“It is so easy to take a CPR course. And it is so important to do, so that in a moment of panic, you can still function,” said Eli Thomas, who was able to save his 2-year-old from nearly drowning, thanks to American Heart Association CPR training he took at a company-organized retreat.

The course is called Heartsaver Pediatric First Aid CPR AED, and it helps caregivers know how to respond to and manage illnesses and injuries in a child or infant in those first few vital minutes until professional help arrives.

More Help

For further advice about how to keep your little ones safe, go to www.heart.org/safekids.