It took about three hours, but we all did it. We, the Citizens Fire Academy students, passed our cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, CPR, certification tests.

Then we were told that just to get a basic emergency medical technician and firefighter 1A and 1B training -- the minimum to be a firefighter in Bedford – you need a lot more training than three hours’ worth.

“You got to have 284 hours in your first year of being a new member of the Bedford Fire Department,” said Capt. Mark Klose.

So, my three hours seemed like nothing, relatively.

Then, we were told how much training a paramedic goes through.

If you want to be a paramedic, the highest EMT level, you need more than 1,200 hours of training from either New Hampshire Institute of Technology or a certificate-granting program at Elliot Hospital. And, it can cost more than $8,000.

“Bedford is extremely lucky because we have 14 full-time paramedics, which is two or three times what you’d find in even larger departments,” said Jon Snow, a firefighter paramedic.

This, Snow said, increases the possibility that a Bedford resident in a medical emergency will have a paramedic come to their rescue.

But what about those areas far away from the Safety Complex? Some areas in the northwest section of town have response times of more than 10 minutes, Klose said.

If there’s an emergency that far away, a quick response to cardiac arrest might be up to you. That’s where CPR comes in for residents.

“You really have to think to yourself that, ‘I could be doing this for someone you love.’ Because that’s probably what’s going to happen,” said Ben Selleck, a firefighter paramedic. “Odds are, that’s what’s going to be happening.”

Bedford has good response times, but the quickest response is usually someone on the scene. This also made me feel a little better about my menial three hours of training.

So, what do you do when somebody goes into cardiac arrest?

We learned the American Heart Association’s newest CPR guidelines, which call for two breaths for every 30 chest compressions. First, we were told to assess the situation, making sure the area is safe.

Then, check the victim. Yell, “Are you OK?” If they don’t respond, get somebody else to call 911, or do it yourself.

While watching the victim’s chest for movement, listen and feel for their breathing. If they’re not, start CPR and wait for help.

“There is no such thing as perfect CPR, I’m here to tell you,” Klose said. “Try doing CPR between the toilet and the bathtub, try doing CPR in a car.”

In class, we definitely had it easy. We had four “Anne” dummies for practice, and not one of them was jammed into a tight spot or had bad breath. We didn’t have to do CPR while going down the stairs or a cramped high-rise elevator.

Klose said he, when he worked in Manchester, performed CPR on a man while standing him on his feet in a cramped elevator.

Instead, for my classmates and I, the dummies were all lined up on the carpet in front of a projected video telling us, step-by-step, what to do. And, in between each use, the dummies faces were wiped with alcohol for cleanliness.

After this class, I felt good about my CPR skills. We learned relatively quickly what to do, but I feel much better knowing that trained paramedics have so much time under their belts.

For more information about CPR training, contact Klose at the Bedford Fire Department at 792-1372, call the American Heart Association at (877) AHA- 4CPR or check out www.americanheart.org/cpr.