First aid in United States
Everything First Aid Angel offers for United States: free first aid guides, online courses, in-person training providers, first aid kits and the local emergency number.
Emergency number in United States: 911
First aid in United States: what to know
Our guides follow the Australian (ANZCOR) guidelines. CPR is the same everywhere — 30 compressions to 2 breaths at 100–120 per minute, and use a defibrillator as soon as one arrives — but training in United States differs in a few places worth knowing.
- Guidelines
- American Heart Association Guidelines for CPR and ECC — AHA guidelines; the steps match ours except where noted here.
- Choking
- For a conscious adult who cannot cough, breathe or speak: abdominal thrusts (the Heimlich manoeuvre) until the blockage clears; some training bodies teach cycles of 5 back blows and 5 abdominal thrusts. Our guides describe the Australian method (back blows and chest thrusts).
- Defibrillators
- Many communities use the PulsePoint app to alert CPR-trained bystanders and show nearby AEDs.
- Helping is protected
- All 50 states have Good Samaritan laws protecting bystanders who give reasonable emergency help in good faith.
- Hands-only CPR (compressions without breaths) is promoted for untrained bystanders helping an adult who collapses.
In the languages of United States
First aid guides translated into 普通话 and Tiếng Việt.
Training in United States
In-person first aid courses from education providers listed in our directory.
Online courses
Learn at your own pace and finish with a certificate of completion.
First aid kits
Kits available for North America.
Local emergency details
Emergency numbers, languages and crisis lines for United States.
Learn, train and prepare in United States
Free guides to read now, local training, online courses, and the kit to have ready.
Free first aid guides
Kits and defibrillators
First Aid Angel never replaces emergency services. In an emergency call 911 or your local emergency number first.