The Delta Dispatch
Straight answers on courses, certificates and emergency skills, written by people who teach this for a living. New posts Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Standard first aid assumes an ambulance is coming soon. Here is what actually changes when the nearest help is a long way off.
Answers: What changes about first aid when help is hours away instead of minutes?
Part 1 of 4: This weekSep 7, 2026
Employers ask for first aid in a dozen different phrasings. Here is how to turn a vague requirement into the right booking.
Part 2 of 4: In depthSep 9, 2026
What the phrases in a posting actually mean, who to email when they mean nothing, and why you want the answer in writing before you pay.
Part 3 of 4: Clinical answerSep 10, 2026
The duty is narrower and heavier than most people expect. What it involves in the first ten minutes, and why it decides which certificate you need.
Part 4 of 4: Quick saveSep 12, 2026
Plenty of employers will pay, and most people never ask. What to ask for, when to ask, and the group booking angle almost nobody raises.
Part 1 of 4: This weekAug 31, 2026
September brings a rush of childcare and babysitting certificate requests. Here is what this week covers, and the age rules that catch people out.
Part 2 of 4: In depthSep 2, 2026
Two courses, two different students, and a job posting that names neither. How to tell which certificate your employer actually wants.
Part 3 of 4: Clinical answerSep 3, 2026
Most adult cardiac arrests start with the heart. Most in children start with breathing, and nearly every difference in paediatric CPR follows from that.
Part 4 of 4: Quick saveSep 5, 2026
A new babysitter needs five minutes of specific information before you walk out. Here is the list, in the order that matters most.
Part 1 of 4: This weekAug 24, 2026
EMR is a real credential and a common first step, but it is not a paramedic licence in Alberta. Read the caveat before you spend the money.
Part 2 of 4: In depthAug 26, 2026
EMR asks for Intermediate First Aid with CPR-C, current on day one. Here is how to sequence the two courses without losing a month.
Part 3 of 4: Clinical answerAug 27, 2026
Knowing more conditions does not make you useful. A repeatable assessment does, and here is the reasoning behind the order it runs in.
Part 4 of 4: Quick saveAug 29, 2026
From someone who marks the practicals: three things worth practising now that will make your first responder course much easier.
Part 1 of 4: This weekAug 17, 2026
Most bleeding stops on its own. This week is about the bleeding that will not, and what changes the moment it turns out to be arterial.
Part 2 of 4: In depthAug 19, 2026
Most people press in roughly the right place, too gently, and let go too soon. Here is how direct pressure is done, and what to do when it soaks through.
Part 3 of 4: Clinical answerAug 20, 2026
The old advice was that a tourniquet costs a limb. Two decades of battlefield data changed that, and the reasoning behind high and tight is worth knowing.
Part 4 of 4: Quick saveAug 22, 2026
The green box in the cupboard is built for paper cuts. Here is what a kit for serious bleeding contains, and why each item earns its place.
Part 1 of 4: This weekAug 10, 2026
Choking is the emergency people fear most and practise least. What this week covers, and why twenty minutes of reading is a good trade.
Part 2 of 4: In depthAug 12, 2026
A partly blocked airway and a completely blocked one need opposite responses. How to tell them apart in the first three seconds.
Part 3 of 4: Clinical answerAug 13, 2026
The pressure mechanism behind back blows and abdominal thrusts, why you alternate them, and why you keep going after the casualty collapses.
Part 4 of 4: Quick saveAug 15, 2026
For a choking infant you change one thing, and the reason is anatomical. What a chest thrust is, and why size changes the technique.
Part 1 of 4: This weekAug 3, 2026
Recertification is shorter and cheaper than the full course, but only if you catch it in time. Here is how the timing works.
Part 2 of 4: In depthAug 5, 2026
A recert is shorter and cheaper than the full course, but only while your card is current. How the window works, and how to read the dates on your card.
Part 3 of 4: Clinical answerAug 6, 2026
The CPR component often runs on a shorter clock than the certificate that contains it. Why the two differ, and how to tell which one governs you.
Part 4 of 4: Quick saveAug 8, 2026
A two minute job that keeps the cheaper renewal available: set a reminder ninety days before your card expires, and put the right details in it.
Clinical answerJul 30, 2026
The clinical answer is push hard, push fast, and stop for as little as possible. Here is the reasoning, and why the pause is the expensive part.
Part 1 of 3: This weekJul 20, 2026
The Canadian Red Cross renamed Standard First Aid to Intermediate First Aid in 2025. Your certificate is still valid. Here is what actually changed.
Part 2 of 3: In depthJul 22, 2026
Most people book the wrong level because a job posting was vague. Here is how to read the requirement before you spend money on a course.
Part 3 of 3: Quick saveJul 25, 2026
What to wear, what to bring, what happens on the day, and the one detail people get wrong that delays their certificate.
Everything published on The Delta Dispatch between 2017 and 2025 is kept in the Dispatch archive. Those posts are older, and some describe course names and standards that have changed since, so they are marked as archived and dated rather than mixed in with the writing above.
