Alan Ganapol is on a mission. He wants every single person on the Island to be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Ganapol has lived in West Tisbury for the past 14 years. He started in the consulting business, but after the economic crash in 2008, he decided to make a career change. Having always wanted to be an EMT, Ganapol took the training, received state certification in 2009, and has been a Tri-Town Ambulance EMT ever since.
In addition to his EMT work for Tri-Town, Ganapol set up his own training company, BePreparedGroup LLC, that offers CPR training for everyone from teenagers to healthcare professionals.
As the coronavirus began to make its way across the country, Ganapol, 73, was advised to stay out of the ambulance, since he was a high-risk individual. Asked to stay at home, but wanting to help, Ganapol turned to Zoom to continue training people to get their CPR certification.
There are three certification courses that Ganapol is offering online: Heartsaver CPR, First Aid, and Healthcare Provider BLS CPR, all of which grant American Heart Association (AHA) certification upon completion.
The Heartsaver CPR class is what Ganapol calls “CPR training for everybody.”
“I am passionate about it. When I teach the class, I’m equally passionate,” Ganapol said in a phone interview with The Times. “I keep it a bit jocular, so it becomes an enjoyable experience, not a painful experience.”
His inspiration is Seattle, Wash. According to King County’s 2018 Division of Emergency Medical Services report, the survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests was 56 percent, a number Ganapol says is drastically higher than anywhere else in the country. He attributed that to more training.
Overall, he’s taught 11 people over Zoom, including adults, medical professionals, and his own grandchildren who live in Oakland, Calif.
“A lot of this is muscle memory,” Ganapol said. “Because people don’t have lights on them.”
Ganapol has received interest from restaurant and hotel owners about training staff, as many businesses begin preparing for reopening.
Here’s how the virtual classes work: Ganapol cleans and sanitizes the equipment, which consists of specialized mannequins, and then drops it off at the student’s house. He goes home, and opens up Zoom.
His classes range in size from two to four people; any more than that can complicate the training, as Ganapol needs to be watching everything his students do. Classes run $70 to $80, and take up to three hours to complete. Training covers how to administer CPR to adults, children, and infants. While he normally offers Emergency Medical Response, he can’t offer that virtually because it requires more face-to-face training and equipment.
“It’s our opportunity to save a life,” Ganapol said. “The gift is not only to the one who survives, but their family and friends as well.”
Operating out of a spare room generously offered by Island Inn, Ganapol can set up a Zoom meeting with students and teach them.
“We’re in this together. End of story,” Ganapol said. “I’m convinced this Island’s going to be stronger than it was before.”
