Three decades of teaching life-saving skills

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Nancy became trained as a Medic First Aid instructor and then an American Heart Association instructor. She recently started as a Training Center Faculty.

Life is precious and delicate, but in a matter of seconds, it can be gone. There is no time to waste when someone is having a heart attack, choking or lying unresponsive and not breathing on the ground. Every tick of the clock carries the weight of someone's life.

Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) has offered CPR and AED courses for years, and Nancy Olson-Folstad has led some of these courses, educating countless numbers of people on how to act when an emergency response is needed.

“I have been teaching classes for over 34 years,” Nancy said. “I love my job.”

Over three decades ago, Nancy started as a first responder. Shortly after, she was approached by a paramedic that NICC was looking for CPR/First Aid instructors. They had encouraged her to apply, so she did.

Nancy became trained as a Medic First Aid instructor and then an American Heart Association instructor. She recently started as a Training Center Faculty.

“One of the best things is the people in my classes,” Nancy said. “Many have come back over the years and told me how they used their skills and how glad they knew what to do. Knowing what to do is so important. You never know when you have to use them. To me, not knowing is one of the worst feelings.”

Nancy has been educating others for many years, so she has seen many generations of people come through her classes. Last summer, she taught a class with three young girls. That’s when she remembered something.

“I realized I had taught their mom in high school,” Nancy said. “While talking to them, I realized that I had taught their great-grandma years ago, too. It kind of blew me away.”

Like this story, she has been going to some of the same companies in the region for 30 years, and enjoys returning, remembering the people from before and getting to know the new students.

Nancy is only one of many instructors at NICC who has taught these valuable skills over the years. NICC has a wide variety of CPR, First Aid and AED training that all companies and organizations should hold for their employees.

There is no point in waiting, so make sure everyone is prepared to act. To learn more about all of these opportunities, visit nicc.edu/aha.