Thumbs down to those issuing fake CPR certificiates

Thumbs down to the people who are issuing the fake CPR certificates that recently have been found at day care centers in Florence and Charleston counties. Linda Boone-Smith, executive director of the Pee Dee Chapter of the American Red Cross, said she susHipects it could be a widespread problem in the Pee Dee and other parts of South Carolina, so the Red Cross is taking it seriously. The discovery was made when a client called with some questions about a CPR certificate that listed courses the Red Cross doesn’t teach. Some of the certificates have been notarized with no identifying information on the seal. Worse yet, some of them appear to have been issued without the cardholder ever attending a class. Boone-Smith said the chapter notified the state Department of Social Services, and the issue is being examined by the Office of General Counsel in Washington, D.C. Laura Collins, health and safety director for the chapter, said at least one person in every day care center is required to hold a CPR certificate. “If they’re receiving invalid CPR cards, then they don’t know the skills,” Collins said. “If something happened at one of these daycares, God forbid, they wouldn’t know how to save that child’s life.” Proper Red Cross training can — and does — help save lives. To receive it, call the Pee Dee Chapter at (843) 662-8121 or visit http://peedee.redcross.org/content/ index.html for details.

Thumbs up to the Francis Marion University men’s soccer and the women’s volleyball teams, whose players will host fundraising games in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month. At 4 p.m. Tuesday, the soccer team will play Barton College and have Passionately Pink for the Cure. It’s the third year the men’s soccer program has partnered with the university’s Zeta Tau Alpha chapter to put on the event. The sorority will sell baked goods and distribute breast cancer information and pink ribbons at the game. During half-time, the sorority also will hold a fastest yogurt eater competition, sending the lids to the main Zeta Tau Alpha office to be sent to Yoplait to fund breast cancer research through Yoplait’s Pink Lids campaign. Then, at 7 p.m. Thursday, the volleyball team will play the University of South Carolina-Aiken for the Side-Out Foundation Dig for Pink. To make donations on the Web before the games and events on the FMU campus, visit www.komendonations.org/ site/PageNavigator/PP_Homepage and www.sideoutvolleyball.org.

Rebecca Smith, a Florence Make-A-Wish volunteer, offers this: “Thumbs up to Jo Nell and the District 5 Highway Patrol in the Pee Dee area for their 14th annual golf tournament; this raises money for The Make-A-Wish organization in the Pee Dee. Wishes are granted to children and young people from ages 2½ to 18 years who are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness by a physician. The golf tournament is successful due to the response of many persons, both players and community contributors. Our sincere thanks go to every person who made this day so successful.”

Florence County Sheriff’s Lt. Wayne Howard offers this: “Thumbs up to all the riders and volunteers who made the eighth annual Bikes & Badges Poker Run a great success, including Sheriff Kenney Boone and deputies, SCANA, Farmers Telephone Cooperative, Pepsi, First Reliance Bank, Fatz Café and Marshall’s Marine. All funds raised support Camp Pee Dee Pride, now in its 13th year at Francis Marion University. It is a free camp designed to educate children between the ages of 8 and 13 about law enforcement, science and other areas. More than 3,000 children have completed this three-week program.” For more details about the camp and how to get involved, call Howard at (843) 665-2121, ext. 339.