An expert in the art of resuscitation, Harold Borrero, director for the last year and a half of UCSF's CPR Education Training Center, is breathing new life into this campus institution.

Borrero has broadened the scope of classes the training center offers to include a variety of programs on rescue and first aid techniques for healthcare professionals and the general public, and in July will add a new class on stress management as a means of injury prevention. He has also overseen the Center's recent move from Laurel Heights to quarters in Millberry Union with state-of-the-art equipment. On average, the center offers a class each day, taught either by Borrero, one of two part-time instructors or one of the center's 180 volunteer instructors.

UCSF fellow Egbert Grinage, MD, (center) and Tracy Stewart, RN, at CPR Center’s advanced cardiac life support class.

The center has for many years offered training and certification for health care personnel in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The center has gotten a jump start on a new professional requirement that will be effective as of January 1998--a mandate from the American Heart Association (AHA) that healthcare personnel learn to use an automated external defibrillator. The device is a new portable version of standard hospital equipment that is used to deliver an electrical current to the chest to restore heart rhythm.

Borrero explains that the AHA recommends the use of this new device in public areas such as malls, airports and dental offices to improve the chances of survival for cardiac arrest victims. "The idea is that a person on the street could use these," he says. The devices are completely automated and instruct you in whether or not the victim needs defibrillation and how to place the pads that conduct electrical current to the chest. "We're a step ahead of most other programs in that we offer this training already," says Borrero.

Borrero also coordinates many programs each year that teach pediatric advanced life support and advanced cardiac life support techniques to medical students, interns, and pharmacy and dental students. For the general public, the center offers classes in both English and Spanish on adult and infant/child resuscitation techniques and first aid. Borrero is particularly pleased that the center was recently selected by the Children's Council of San Francisco to provide training and certification in CPR and first aid for its members, who are childcare providers in San Francisco.

Borrero is known for his hands-on approach to teaching. Participants never find their attention wandering too far in his classes. He can always leaven the material by recounting real-life experiences from his 16 years as a fire fighter-paramedic in San Francisco. Borrero's can-do attitude is an inspiration for lay persons who may be interested in learning CPR and first-aid skills but are hesitant about their abilities. First aid classes are made as realistic as possible, with artificial but authentic-looking wounds and convincingly hysterical acting.

"Doing these exercises really builds confidence that you can deal with trauma and blood," says Borrero. "We cover practical things you can do in an emergency," says Borrero. "People wonder how they can protect themselves from blood-borne pathogens, for example, when they are driving in their car and see a motor vehicle accident. Maybe they want to help but they don't have latex gloves with them," says Borrero. "But I'll bet they have a few plastic bags from the supermarket in the trunk. They can wrap those around their hands." Borrero adds that the same goes for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. If you don't have a pocket mask with you--the standard equipment to prevent contact with bodily fluids-- you can use a shirt or a towel to temporarily protect yourself.

In an effort to prevent injury and illness, the center will soon offer a stress-management program. "Stress is the number one cause of work-related injuries and heart attacks," says Borrero, citing data from the National Safety Council and the American Heart Association. As an educational training agency for the National Safety Council (NSC), the center as of July will be offering an NSC program on stress management. The three-hour training session, for which continuing education credits are offered, covers such elements as how to identify stress and relieve it. "We go over ways to take time out--simple things like deep breathing or relaxation exercises and mental imagery." Participants also learn ways to identify and alleviate stress in co-workers. Also new is a reimbursement program offered through Brown &
Toland, the HMO medical group composed of California-Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) and UCSF physicians, as part of its health education effort. When HMO members take one of the center's classes in injury prevention, CPR or CPR and first aid, Brown & Toland will reimburse 50% of the cost.

For more information about the center's class schedule, please call 476-1817.

By Leslie Lingaas

1st appeared 6/27/97