Disabled CMT Volunteer Teaches Most Important Skill: Confidence

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Disabled Volunteer Teaches the Most Important Skill: Confidence

http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_6729,00.html

By Etta Boesl , Communication and Marketing, American Red Cross

In the late 1970s, Bruce was a young father wanting very much to

serve his community. He joined the first aid squad in his hometown

in Chatham, New Jersey, but could not be an active member because he

suffers from a progressively degenerative neuromuscular disorder,

Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT). (photo of Bruce at link above)

To complete the squad's certification requirements, Bruce took a Red

Cross CPR class. During the course he learned it was possible for

him to be of service to others by teaching lifesaving health and

safety skills such as first aid, CPR and babysitting.

Excited by the opportunity, Bruce signed up to become an instructor.

Soon he was teaching Red Cross first aid and CPR, not only to

individual students but to groups of firefighters, corporate

employees and university personnel. It was the beginning of what has

become a 30-year partnership with the Colonial Crossroads Chapter in

Summit, New Jersey.

" Like many of our volunteers, it was destiny that brought Bruce Rex

to that first CPR class, " said Hodde, the chapter's

executive director. " He has taught hundreds of people around Summit

and Madison the skills they need to save a life, and we're very

proud that he's a member of our Red Cross family. "

Bruce's role has expanded over the years as his own training and

abilities as an instructor have grown. In addition to teaching

people the skills they need to save lives, he trains a new cadre of

Red Cross instructors every year. And since the early 1990s, he has

served as volunteer chair for CPR and first aid, scheduling and

coordinating courses and instructors.

Now retired, Bruce still teaches courses for the Colonial Crossroads

Chapter nearly every day. He measures his success not by keeping

track of how many students he teaches, but by what he teaches them.

" I'm proud of those I've taught because they've gained the

confidence needed to respond calmly in a crisis, " he says. " It's not

only the skills themselves that are important. Knowing what to do

makes a big difference! "