St. Louis-Based First Aid Training Company Enters Inland Marine Market

A representative of Compressions LLC spoke recently at the Inland Rivers, Ports and Terminals Missouri River basin meeting held September 26 in St. Louis, Mo. The newly formed company provides first aid and CPR training to the inland marine industry using a combined total of 30-plus years of medical experience.

Tom Willis, co-owner and training site coordinator for Compressions, said the company provides basic and advanced life support services in a broad range of environments. “We work with our clients to provide additional custom medical training to fit their specific needs,” said Willis, who added that the company’s ability to travel to marine terminals, docks and towboats is what sets it apart from other organizations.

“Rather than crews having to leave their vessel, they can instead complete their training onsite and receive their certification cards immediately upon course completion,” said Willis.

With more than 1,500 miles of river between the Missouri and Upper Mississippi River basin, Willis said crews can make a stop in the St. Louis region and Compressions will board their vessels to conduct training while they’re docked.

The formation of Compressions has been in the works since 2014, according to Doug Dankenbring, co-owner and curriculum coordinator. “At that time, Tom and I saw opportunities in future training requirements and discussed opening our own training business to create another option for medical personnel to receive the training and continuing education that is required to maintain licensure,” said Dankenbring. “Those opportunities presented themselves earlier this year, along with getting a request to provide CPR training to a large group at an area industrial aviation facility.”

Dankenbring said providing medical training onsite for the inland marine industry is vital because accidents and cardiac arrest can and do happen anywhere. “A recent cardiac arrest event happened on a vessel, and the crew managed that patient with CPR and first aid before advanced life support arrived,” he said. “We want to be the training company that the inland marine industry goes to for all their emergency medical training needs.”