Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Bergen County
Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Ep # 148 Saving Lives Starts Before 911
What happens in the first five seconds of an emergency can decide everything. That’s why we invited Scott Rosen, RN and founder of True Emergency Education, to share a clear, confidence-building roadmap for bystanders, parents, teachers, coaches, and healthcare teams who want to be ready when it counts.
Scott breaks down the essentials of CPR, AED use, and first aid through real-world examples you’ll actually remember. We talk about why AEDs are now common at fields, gyms, and offices, how 911 dispatchers coach callers step by step, and why high-quality chest compressions make the biggest difference. He also walks us through first aid scenarios you’re more likely to face day to day—bleeding control, fainting, seizures, burns, allergic reactions—and how to move from panic to a simple, effective sequence that buys time for professionals to arrive.
You’ll also hear about the latest guideline updates, including the new adult choking sequence: five strong back blows before abdominal thrusts, with chest thrusts for people who are pregnant or have significant abdominal girth. For families and caregivers, Scott’s concierge newborn and infant safety sessions bring hands-on practice into the living room, covering choking protocols, safe feeding, febrile seizures, and common pediatric emergencies using infant mannequins so the steps become second nature.
We wrap with Scott’s path from EMT and emergency nurse to educator and mobile business owner, offering classes across New Jersey and New York for hospitals, camps, schools, gyms, and corporate teams. If you’ve been meaning to renew certification or finally learn how to use the AED on the wall, this conversation gives you the why and the how to start today.
If you found this helpful, follow the show, share it with a friend who coaches or cares for kids, and leave a quick review so more neighbors can find it. Your next skill could save a life.
True Emergency Education
Scott Rosen
(551) 245-7122
Info@TrueEmergencyEducation.com
TrueEmergencyEducation.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Doug Drohan:Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today I'm joined by Scott Rosen of True Emergency Education. And I think that's the key to uh to the business model. And Scott, welcome to the show.
Scott Rosen:Hi there. Good afternoon. Thank you for having me.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, absolutely. So emergency education. I I guess from you know the name, it would you'd think it has to deal with CPR and and you know first aid and training like that. Is is that what uh your company is based on?
Scott Rosen:That's correct, yes. Uh so again, good afternoon. My name is Scott Rosen. I own a company called True Emergency Education, and that's correct. Um, I teach CPR classes, first aid classes, I do newborn infant safety classes, I do public speaking, and then I do a variety of you know, wilderness first aid, bloodborne pathogens, babysitting safety, uh, and it's all connected with the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, and the Health and Safety Institute.
Doug Drohan:That's great. So I know certain industries have requirements, you have to have a CPR certification. Uh, you know, when I was a f a personal trainer, I needed to have my CPR certification. I would hope if you work in a school as a teacher, you need it. Uh, I don't know if that's true. Yeah. Um you know, I always asked babysitters when we used to hire babysitters if they were uh CPR certified or, you know, certainly and for infants, it's really important. Um like what are the like major populations of people that you um that hire you?
Scott Rosen:I would say it's both healthcare and non-health care um are my clients, a wide variety from the majority are certainly healthcare. So from from nurses to doctors to you know, nurses' aides, caregivers. I also offer critical care classes, uh advanced life, advanced critical uh life support, and pediatric advanced life support. These are classes that are needed for uh healthcare practitioners in critical care areas like the CATH lab, the ER, the ICU, the OR. Um, so anyone in in healthcare at all certainly. Yeah, all nurses.
Doug Drohan:When you become a doctor or a nurse, that's it.
Scott Rosen:Yeah, so definitely, definitely the healthcare profession. Uh, this is certainly a requirement uh for healthcare jobs, but you know, it's a good question. Outside of of the healthcare um environment, um, you know, from daycare centers to gyms, as you mentioned as a personal trainer, you know, teachers. Um, you know, I I over the summertime I went to a camp and I was I had like 30 camp counselors. Um so from flight attendants to you know you you name it, there's definitely it may not be required, but I always strongly recommend, you know, servers at restaurants to, you know, from from dentists, every every uh business should really have um you know management, not even management, but just c uh people in a professional setting and big corporate offices, people should be certified.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, yeah. And you know, I think um, you know, one of the things we see more frequently now, and we go to rec fields, baseball fields, or whatever, is the AED machine. But you're sitting there as a spectator or maybe as a coach and you see this thing hanging on the wall or on the fence, you know, do you know how to use it? And you know, how many people really know how to use it if somebody all of a sudden collapses, if a kid gets hit in the chest with a hockey puck or a ball or something in just the right split second, or a coach collapse collapses. Who knows how to use that machine, right? Does everybody look around and say, where are the instructions?
Scott Rosen:It's it's true. So that's part of my class, you know, and it's a part of the certification is how to use the AD. And you know, I certainly talk about in all my classes. If someone's if they're not taking a CPR class, but they're taking a first aid class, I mentioned how these automated external defibrillators they're popping up. They're in not only pharmacies and schools and um, you know, outside sporting arenas, they're really popping up in libraries and um different settings that you wouldn't even imagine. And it's very important to be trained and know what to do if somebody collapses. You know, it could certainly be at a doctor's office in the waiting room, or it could be outside in a parking lot when you're at the grocery store. You you never know what can happen anywhere you are.
Doug Drohan:How much time do you have to read the instructions? Okay, I gotta put this electrode or this sticker on this part of the chest, and this one goes here, and then okay, I press this button, you know, like how long does it take you to read the instructions? And how long do you typically have to revive somebody?
Scott Rosen:So I would say with the AED, there's actually there's no instruction manual. You just you need to be trained in what to do, and it's very, very simple. Um, I I think it's very important to take a certification class and to learn, but just from this podcast, if anyone is in you know a situation where somebody collapses right away, the best thing to do is to call 911. And actually, the 911 dispatcher will stay on the phone with you until help arrives, and and they'll certainly guide you with the step-by-step approach to you know recognize if someone's breathing, if they're not breathing, and if they need that AED.
Doug Drohan:Right. Okay, okay. But in reality, uh, is it true that the likelihood that you're gonna need to use your CPR training or the AED is a lot, you know, the chances are a lot lower than having to use uh first aid skills, right? And I guess when somebody's first gets a first aid certification, you guys run the gamut between um stopping bleeding to what helping somebody with a broken bone. Like what what what are the um different types of scenarios you focus on when someone's first aid uh certified?
Scott Rosen:So that's a great question. So I know I talk about from seizures to allergic reactions to burns to um, you know, as you mentioned, you know, bleed bleeding is certainly a big one. If someone passes out um and they simply hit their head or they injure their arm and they're bleeding. So how to stop the bleed? But in addition to that, there's there's so much more from you know, fainting events, what to do if someone just simply fainted in front of you, if that person then had a seizure, we talk about strokes, we talk about heart attacks, uh, we talk about you know allergic reactions, um, and uh just very common emergencies that that can certainly occur anywhere.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, yeah. Interesting. So then how long is the uh like a CPR training course? Because I think the ones I've done in the past, like my company that I work for offered it. Um, some to be some seem to be quicker than others. Uh like if you're gonna do uh and I'm I'm sure I I think I saw you do both a CPR and a first aid certification. So if I was you know going to do a call a class with you, what what's the time uh commitment?
Scott Rosen:So I would say it certainly depends. If you're a healthcare provider and you need something called basic life support, which is a certification through the American Heart Association, that class could certainly be a couple hours. And I do offer a concierge style one-on-one private class in addition to group classes. Um so with the one-on-one private, you know, the class like this would probably just be about an hour or so since it's one-on-one. You know, when we get into groups and we have you know larger groups, if there's three, four, five, or six people, um, you know, the class could could take a couple of hours or so because we're looking at videos, we're doing we're going through demonstrations. Um, so a CPR class, anywhere from an hour or two. Um, if you've been certified in the past, if you've never been certified before, it could be certainly a little longer. And as far as a first aid class, um, I would say that could be about two, three hours as well.
Doug Drohan:So, and you know, your certification only lasts for a certain amount of years, right? Then you have to get rid of the building. And why is that?
Scott Rosen:So the American Heart Association, American uh Safety and Health, American Rec Frost, they all have a recommended renewal date. So it's two years uh from the date that you took the class. Okay. Um, and the like thought process behind that is you uh if you don't use it, you lose it. As you as you indicated before, you know, it is somewhat rare that you're gonna be in the right situation at the right time and you're gonna be able to start CPR and and be the hero. But you know, two years will go by and perhaps you got lucky and you never needed to, you know, use your skills. So that's why there's there's a recommended renewal, specifically for for you know healthcare providers and then non-healthcare providers as well.
Doug Drohan:And some of the techniques change over time, right? Because I think from the times I was certified, the amount of compressions changed between breadths. I thought it used to be like 10, now it's like 30. Yeah. And the more emphasis is on the compressions over the uh the breadths, right?
Scott Rosen:That's correct. Yeah. So it's it's funny you mentioned that. Just about a month ago, the American Heart Association uh just some uh came out with a guidelines change. Uh the 2025 update, which was released in uh just October, and every five years there's somewhat of a change uh due to evidence-based literature. Um, you know, they they look into you know the science and the technology and and uh what has occurred in the last five years and what they think could certainly be be better for the outcome of somebody. Uh so there recently just was a change, and that's why it's so important to take these classes every every couple years and and to stay certified.
Doug Drohan:Right, right. Yeah. I mean, I it's been a long time since I did it. And I I mean, I know tilt the head back, pinch the nose, a couple of breaths, and then the compression. So I feel confident that if no one else knew what they were doing, I could step up and help out.
Scott Rosen:Okay.
Doug Drohan:Compressions are really the most important thing, unless they're you know, if their throat is blocked, then obviously you've got to get the obstruction out. Uh, I used to carry one of these um pocket face masks, keychains.
Scott Rosen:Yeah, give those out of my classes.
Doug Drohan:I mean, we're going back in the early 90s when AIDS was really still a thing. And you know, when I was working in the uh for a big corporation in Manhattan when they had those classes, so um, you know, people worried about that. Um so now those are the typical training, also typical the ones that we as lay persons kind of know about. But you mentioned some other things that you do that are interesting, like um babysitting or caregivers or uh you know infants and things like that. So you want to talk to us a little bit about those programs?
Scott Rosen:Sure. So yeah, so in addition to the CPR on first aid, which people you know certainly are very familiar with, I also offer uh like a concierge style newborn infant safety class. Now, this isn't like a certification through any kind of organization like the AHA or the American Red Cross. This is something that you know I I've created. Um, and what I do is I go to people's homes that are new parents or you know, caregivers, nannies, grandparents. And if it's if it's their first child or even if it's their third, and they just want like a simple review of you know introducing solid foods, we talk about choking techniques with infants, and I talk about very common pediatric emergencies from febrile seizures to you know when introducing new foods or there is an allergic reaction that occurs. Um, in a class like this, would you know it could take about an hour or so where I come into someone's home, I'm I set up in their living room, I go over some content, just like a literature review, and then what matters most is you know, I bring in the mannequins, the infant mannequins, and I want to see them demonstrate to me what you would do if you know there's uh you recognize that you know your child is choking, and I want to make sure that they they certainly understand the step-by-step approach.
Doug Drohan:Okay. So do you teach the Heimlich maneuver as well?
Scott Rosen:I do. I teach, yeah. So that's a part of the CPR class, uh, is you know, uh the Heimlich, but in in this class as well, I talk about the Himlik, I talk about doing back blows, I talk about infant, uh child, and adult.
Doug Drohan:You gotta hold them down the back blows, right? But what about for an adult? Like um the other day I was kind of coughing and my son just slapped me in the back. And I I've had uh two choking experiences in my life, which are terrifying. Because when it happens, it's immediate, like you can't get any breath in. It's very frightening. I was on a fishing boat and I was leaning back eating a Snickers bar or something like that, and it got caught in my throat, and my cousin just whacked me on the back, and luckily it jarred loose. The second time it was working uh in a big company in Manhattan in the company cafeteria, and I was choking on a bagel. And this time the guy who I just hired, it was our first breakfast meeting. I was his manager, his boss gave me the high wick, and it came out, and then I went back to eating because I was still hungry, my eggs were warm. But um, so yeah, I mean, what slapping on the back is that something that you would recommend to an adult?
Scott Rosen:Yeah, so so actually to an adult, it just came out with the new guidelines just last month. The American Heart Association is recommending if you recognize someone is choking, you know, the universal sign for choking is like this. Um, but if you know if someone can't bring can't make any sound, they can't talk at all, um, the first thing you do is you're gonna actually introduce five back blows to their upper back in between their shoulder blades. And what that's gonna do is that's gonna actually produce a vibration and a pressure to expel the object. And after five, five of those, if you're not successful, you're gonna do the maneuver that everybody knows Dr. Henry Heimlich created in 1974, which is that the Heimlich maneuver where you find the belly button, you go about two fingers above it, you make a fist, and you put your other hand over that, and you're introducing this like upward motion where you're applying pressure and vibration to expel the object out.
Doug Drohan:But I can imagine if it's an obese person, that must be really hard or just a really large. Imagine it's a football player, you know, a lineman 310 pounds. That's that's certainly arms around him, you know.
Scott Rosen:Valid point, and I find that in every single class, somebody will bring up which it when it's a part of the curriculum as well, not only like the obese uh client, if you will, um a football player, if you will, someone with like a big big person. You can think of like a sumo wrestler, or you can think of someone pregnant. What do you do? Right, yeah, take my class and I'll I'll teach you. But what do you what do you do truthfully is you'll do chest, you'll do chest thrust, you'll go above the the big old, you know, let's say adipose tissue that they have around their belly, and you go a little higher up to introduce that vibration and that pressure.
Doug Drohan:Okay, so first the back uh slaps and then the chest. Yeah, got it. Okay. So um, so you mentioned, you know, they come to your class. So how do people find you? And do you come to them? Do you hold them at different like um community centers? Do you do virtual? I'm sure virtual is kind of hard, but like how does how do people reach you?
Scott Rosen:So um that's a great question. So I have a website, it's called true emergencyeducation.com. I have social media pages. I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn. Um, and uh, you know, a big way people have been reaching out to me is just by word of mouth. I I definitely am definitely in contact with a lot of people, both in healthcare and non-healthcare. Um, and then what I do is yeah, I go to community events um to do uh these classes, and I do offer in-home classes, which people find very appealing, as opposed to having to like go on your day off or you know, late at night or early in the morning to to a training center. Um, I come right to you. I come right into your home, I'll meet you at your office, um, and and I'll set everything up.
Doug Drohan:Okay, nice, nice. So, how did you get into this line of work? I mean, um did something happen in your life once where you had to save somebody or somebody saved you and you thought, man, this everybody should know how to do this.
Scott Rosen:That's a good question. No, I'm I'm happy to report. I've never had to, I've you know, I've done CPR multiple times, you know, since I was uh 17 years old. I, you know, was a member of a local ambulance um organization and worked as an EMT at age 18. Uh, but even prior to that, I always had an interest in healthcare and you know being a part of a team to help people. So in high school, even I knew I wanted to go into healthcare, but you know, what should I do? There's so much in healthcare. So I shadowed a nurse, I shadowed a doctor, I volunteered in the hospital, and I decided on nursing. Um, so you know, I've been a registered nurse, I've been in the emergency department for nine years, uh almost 10 years now. And um as far as what got me into like education and teaching, I've always just I don't know, from being a hockey coach and a soccer coach and being around kids as a camp counselor, I I always enjoyed public speaking. And then um taking a CPR class at like 14 years old, I just I don't know, it like um really uh I I really just enjoyed learning and I always wanted to, I always thought like I would be on the other side and I I would teach. Um so that's when I I started this company about a decade ago, but just in the last year, I've started doing it more and more. Um and now that I have about almost like 20 years of experience with pre-hospital care as an EMT, as a nurse, um I I've been I've been teaching a lot more than ever before, and it's been great.
Doug Drohan:Wow. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's one thing to say I'm doing this as a side hustle. It's another thing to say I'm gonna make a business out of this because now all different things come into play, right?
Scott Rosen:That's right. Advertising, uh Yeah, I have a license with the state as an LLC, I have business insurance. I that that's right.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, yeah. And what has that journey been like for you?
Scott Rosen:Um, it's definitely been different because you know, as a registered nurse, we don't we don't take business classes. I we know we learn a little bit about management, you know, in school, you know, when you you can become like a nurse manager. Um and uh you know, I know about clinically treating patients in the hospital setting, um, but uh it's it's been an interesting journey. I've been enjoying it. There's like so much to learn about business and and clientele, and I always want to do the right thing. You know, if you do the right thing, you never have anything to feel badly about. So I I have business insurance, uh, you know, I have an LLC, I spoke with a small business attorney, I have an accountant, you know. I I I always want to make sure that I'm doing I'm crossing my T's and dotting my I's.
Doug Drohan:Right, right. Yeah, there is a I hear that from almost everybody. You know, you go to college to learn to study whatever discipline it is that you're focusing on. But even if you're a business major, you basically are taught how to work for somebody, not to run your own company. That's right.
Scott Rosen:A lot of learning as you go.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, it seems like people that go into consulting, they're the ones that you know will go off and start their own company because they consulted other businesses and knew how to look at a balance sheet, knew how to look at an organization from staff, you know, people, product and processes, right? The three Ps. But most people didn't do that, you know, and and to go off and say, Okay, I'm gonna do this, it sounds great. Everybody applauds you for it, and then you're like, uh oh.
Scott Rosen:I just sometimes I think to myself, like, oh wow, this is this is that's a lot of work. And I I have three kids, and I have a full-time job, I have a part-time job, and then I then I have this.
Doug Drohan:But I uh torching hockey.
Scott Rosen:That's it, yeah.
Doug Drohan:Wow, uh that's amazing. Well, Scott, this is great. I um let's just go over again how people would reach you.
Scott Rosen:So your website is it's uh true emergencyeducation.com. I'm also on social media. Um I'm on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. I I think I'm almost up to 4,000 followers on Instagram. So people can reach out to me through the website. Um my my uh social media is the same True Emergency Education. Um, and uh they could call me, they could text me, they could email me. Uh I'm I'm happy to assist in any way that I can.
Doug Drohan:And what like how far will you travel?
Scott Rosen:So if you So I travel throughout New Jersey, I you not only Bergen County, but Essex County, Morris County. I have clientele in Rockland County, New York, Orange County, Westchester County. And I've actually uh this through so throughout New York, throughout New Jersey, I've actually had one client in the state of Maryland. I was just in Pennsylvania over the summer at a summer camp. So I uh my big thing is I'm a mobile company. I don't actually have an office space, but you need me, I'll be there.
Doug Drohan:Well, that's great. All right, Michael Jackson, I'll be there. Um, Scott, this is great. Uh bear with us for a minute. You and I will be right back.
Scott Rosen:Okay.
Intro/Close:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 8325.