American Heart Association Training Center Information

We are proud to be part of the American Heart Association's established Training Center Network.

As an AHA Training Center, CPR Tacoma ensures that CPR classes are taught to American Heart Association standards and that each CPR class we offer meets or exceeds the quality demanded by the nation's leading CPR training agency. CPR Tacoma also serves as a hub for instructors by disseminating information about the latest in cardiac science, developments in CPR protocol, and any changes in American Heart Association policy.

For information on the process of becoming an American Heart Association Instructor and the time and financial commitment involved, click here.

How To Align with CPR Tacoma

For Current Instructors Wanting to Transfer alignment to CPR Tacoma

CPR Tacoma welcomes AHA instructors in good standing with a current instructor certification card (either Heartsaver or BLS) to align with us. Just follow the steps below to make CPR Tacoma your new American Heart Association Training Center:

  1. Give us a call to discuss our requirements for our aligned instructors.

  2. Take a class from CPR Tacoma to update your provider card and become familiar with our teaching style (please enroll in a BLS class if you are a BLS instructor, and a Heartsaver Adult, Child, Infant CPR & First Aid class if you are a Heartsaver instructor)

  3. Arrange a date with CPR Tacoma so you can be monitored teaching.

  4. If accepted for alignment we will provide you with an Instructor Records Transfer Request to send to your current Training Center. This allows them to release all your instructor records to CPR Tacoma. Per the AHA Program Administration Manual they have 30 days to complete this request. CPR Tacoma prefers electronic copies of all documents. You must fill in your name, as well as the date on item #1 of the Instructor Records Transfer Request before sending it to your current TC.

  5. Send a signed and initialed copy of the CPR Tacoma Instructor Agreement and a copy (front and back) of your current instructor certification card to cpr@cprseattle.com.

  6. Log in to the AHA Instructor Network, choose “edit my profile”, then “alignment”, and select CPR Tacoma as your new Training Center.

  7. Call CPR Tacoma to pay your annual alignment fee.

  8. Once all the information listed in items 1 - 5 above has been completed, we will send you a username and password to our Instructor Portal. The Instructor Portal will allow you to access all the paperwork necessary to teach classes, order course materials online, and provide the mechanism for sending your class rosters and paperwork to the training center.

Expired Instructors Wanting to Transfer to CPR Tacoma

If your certification card has expired, you can take an initial instructor training course with CPR Tacoma (we offer both Heartsaver and BLS instructor courses). You will be treated as a new instructor and receive a new instructor number from the American Heart Association. You will need to complete the appropriate online AHA Instructor Essentials course if you do not have your original certificate of completion for the AHA Core Instructor Course (the new Instructor Essentials courses have replaced the Core Instructor Course). Contact either your former Training Center if you completed the Core Course from a CD, or contact the American Heart Association if you completed the Core Course online with the AHA. You should be able to track down your Core Course certificate from one of these two sources. If not, you will receive a key for the AHA Instructor Essentials Course after you enroll in your instructor training with CPR Tacoma. The key will allow you to complete the course online at www.onlineaha.org.

Note: as of 3/24/17, only the BLS Instructor Essentials Course is available. Heartsaver Instructors will not be required to take the Heartsaver Instructor Essentals Course until it is made available by the AHA.

Instructor Candidates Trained Through a CPR Tacoma Instructor Course

During your instructor training, CPR Tacoma will go over all the requirements necessary to align with CPR Tacoma. Please call our office at 206-504-3280 for our current Training Center alignment fee and what services that fee covers.

Instructor Candidates Trained Through Another Training Centers' Instructor Course

CPR Tacoma welcomes instructors who have been trained by another American Heart Association Training Center to align with us (although we highly recommend if you wish to align with us that you attend a CPR Tacoma instructor training course as we cover all of our Training Center specifics during the course). We will need the following records/documents from you or the Training Center you began your instructor course with:

  • Instructor Candidate Application
  • Copy (front and back) of your current (unexpired) Heartsaver and BLS provider cards (we only need your Heartsaver provider card if you are completing the Heartsaver instructor training).
  • Skills testing forms and exams from your instructor training
  • AHA Instructor Essentials Course Certificate (if applicable)

Once these forms have been received, and within six months of completing the initial instructor course, the candidate must successfully demonstrate his/her teaching skills while teaching a provider course (BLS or Heartsaver), which will be monitored by a CPR Tacoma Training Center Faculty member. There is a fee for the course monitoring for those instructors who began their instructor training with another Training Center. The Training Center Faculty member will take 30-45 minutes after the course monitoring session to explain our Training Center procedures and roster submission processes. Instructors must be registered with the AHA Training Center Network and pay the Training Center alignment fee to complete the instructor training and alignment process.

Why Align with CPR Tacoma?

There are many reasons to align with CPR Tacoma aside from our proximity to Western Washington cities including Bellevue, Kirkland, Everett, and Renton. More reasons to align with us:

  1. CPR Tacoma has a full-time staff available to promptly and accurately answer any training questions you might have.

  2. We offer regularly scheduled BLS Instructor renewal courses 3-4 times per year and Heartsaver instructor renewal courses 3-4 times per year, and are happy to accommodate your schedule by teaching a private renewal course for a minimal additional fee (schedule permitting).

  3. When you align with CPR Tacoma, you are issued a password to our secure, custom-built Instructor Portal. All your training records are kept on the Portal in digitized form allowing you to have instant access to the records for the courses you have taught, along with your student training records. As the AHA requires each instructor to maintain copies of all class paperwork for three years, CPR Tacoma takes care of this requirement for you.

  4. Instructors and Training Sites can order training materials through the Instructor Portal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can have materials promptly shipped via USPS, or scheduled for pickup at our Seattle office.

Courses Offered

As an American Heart Association Training Center, CPR Tacoma teaches a full range of CPR classes for the healthcare provider as well as the lay responder. These include:

Please feel free to contact our office with any questions or for any clarifications on the requirements listed above. Our current office hours are Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm.