Ready Carver, Informed, Prepared, Connected

These courses teach participants the skills they need to know to give immediate care to a suddenly injured or ill person until more advanced medical personnel arrive and take over. Students who successfully complete this course will receive an American Red Cross certificate, which is valid for two years. All classes are located at the Chaska Community Center.

For more information please call Tessa Syverson at (952) 227-7746. Register at www.chaskacommunitycenter.com. Cost: $100 Member; $120 Non-member

Class Dates and Times:

Adult/Child/Infant CPR and AED
Monday, July 9 from 5:30–9:30 pm

Adult/Child/Infant CPR and AED Review
Monday, May 21 from 5:30–9:30 pm
Wednesday, July 18 from 5:30–9:30 pm

The MN Department of Health website allows you to search by your zip code to find a flu shot clinic near you.

The toll from latest outbreak of salmonella-spiked sushi has climbed to 316, according to a new government report. And that number may be a huge underestimate, since food safety officials estimate that for every salmonella infection they hear about, 29.3 go unreported. Using that multiplier, the total number of tuna-sickened Americans may be closer to 9,575.

Heading outside during Minnesota’s warm seasons can result in exposure to ticks and mosquitoes, and the diseases they carry.

You expect some spots to be filthy—your kitchen floor, your garbage can, your toilet. But how germy are the things designed to keep you and your home clean?

Drowning remains the leading cause of death in children under age 4 other than birth defects, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2005 to 2009, about 3,880 people died from drowning each year in the United States, and more than 5,700 received emergency care for near- drowning incidents, the CDC says.

A young man found jugs of the toxic metal in his grandfather's garage and offered it for sale. The PCA took it off his hands for $300.

Preston Winter was cleaning out his late grandfather's garage in Floodwood, Minn., when he found four plastic jugs of mercury. Sixty-four pounds of mercury, to be exact. Enough to fill 30,000 thermometers.

The Obama administration is asking a presidential commission to help decide an ethical quandary: Should the anthrax vaccine and other treatments being stockpiled in case of a bioterror attack be tested in children?

It's been 70 years since the vaccine against whooping cough became widely available. Yet the illness — known for its distinctive coughing fits — still poses a risk to kids, as parents in Shakopee learned this week. Three junior high students came down with confirmed cases, prompting the school to send a letter home alerting families.

The number of pertussis cases in Minnesota has doubled in recent weeks. The Minnesota Department of Health says the state is approaching 700 cases of the disease, also known as whooping cough. Claudia Miller, the vaccine preventable disease surveillance supervisor at the Health Department, has been tracking the outbreak and said it was looking like a normal year for pertussis earlier this month.

Toxic chemical is found to have drifted far from where it's applied

Don and Norma Smith couldn't understand why their sheep stopped producing lambs in the mid-1990s. When half the animals died mysteriously over one winter, they gave up on the profitable hobby that had won blue ribbons for their kids at the Minnesota State Fair.

A small study raises more concern about the long-term consequences of brain injuries suffered by thousands of soldiers — suggesting they may be at risk of developing the same degenerative brain disease as some retired football players.

A popular antibiotic used for treating bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections and sexually transmitted diseases may boost the risk of death, a US study said Wednesday. Azithromycin has been on the worldwide market since the 1980s, but the study in the New England Journal of Medicine is the first to document serious heart risks — up to a 2.5-fold higher chance of cardiovascular fatalities — in the first five days of treatment compared to another or no antibiotic.

For the first time in 20 years, U.S. health officials have lowered the threshold for lead poisoning in young children. The new standard announced Wednesday means that hundreds of thousands more youngsters could be diagnosed with high levels of lead. Too much lead is harmful to developing brains and can mean a lower IQ.

Unused wells pose one of the greatest contamination threats to groundwater

As the Twin Cities suburbs rapidly grew, thousands of homeowners unable to access a water system drilled their own wells to tap the aquifers. Now the state and counties are sealing the unused wells before they can be used to contaminate the groundwater — a huge undertaking because there are so many.

A coordinated effort involving a range of agencies aims to ward off financial exploitation and neglect or abuse, particularly of the elderly

When Tony Palumbo became Anoka County attorney last year, he believed the office should put a stronger emphasis on the investigation and prosecution of crimes against vulnerable adults, particularly the elderly.

This is a rare and unique opportunity for teen drivers to see what the capabilities and limitations of a vehicle are. Too many teen crashes are a result of inexperience or over correction. Register right away if you are interested. It is open to anyone and spots will fill up fast!

The 2012 National Preparedness Report (NPR) summarizes how prepared we are as a Nation.

Sunscreen confusion won't be over before summer after all. The government is bowing to industry requests for more time to make clear how much protection their lotions really offer. The Food and Drug Administration ordered changes to sunscreens last summer but gave their makers a year — until this June — to get revised bottles on the shelf.

One in four people who take antibiotics will develop diarrhea. In some, there can be serious complications. According to a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, taking probiotics — strains of "good" bacteria — on top of a course of antibiotics may help ward off the diarrhea that often comes with antibiotic treatment.

Of all the things Jackie Sherrill had to worry about while juggling school, work and two kids, someone breaking a tooth on a baby bottle was least among them. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this year, when Sherrill’s 20-month-old daughter, Morgan, took a nose-dive off a couch and landed face-first on the edge of an ottoman.

Got germs? Everyone does. So you need to wash your hands properly to prevent the potential spread of infection. Read more for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for proper hand washing.

It’s a tragic sign of spring: Two young children have died this month in Texas and Missouri after their parents accidentally left them all day in hot vehicles. Although such deaths occur in nearly every month of the year, records show that warmer weather typically heralds a seasonal spike in fatalities from hyperthermia, or heat stroke, among children left in cars and trucks.

Roughly half of young adults under 30 say they've had a sunburn in the past year. Not a big deal? It raises the risk for skin cancer, including melanoma, a rare but often lethal cancer. Experts say that even one blistering burn can double the risk of developing melanoma.

Extreme heat events can cause increase in death, illnesses, data show

In anticipation of the upcoming hot weather, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has released the Minnesota Extreme Heat Toolkit to help local public health agencies better prepare for extreme heat events and to help inform the public about steps they can take to avoid heat-related illnesses.

Measure would call for babies to be put to sleep on their backs

Alarmed by a rise in deaths among children in day care, a Faribault lawmaker has proposed that Minnesota hold child-care providers to a tougher standard of safe sleep practices.

Aimee Copeland, the Georgia student battling flesh-eating disease after a zip line injury, is showing signs of recovery, her family said today. But the 24-year-old is still fighting for her life, relying on a ventilator to breathe.

The government is taking steps to help ensure that children who need CT scans and other X-ray-based tests don't get an adult-sized dose of radiation. Too much radiation from medical testing is a growing concern, especially for children, because it may increase the risk of cancer later in life.

New AAA study says teenaged drivers face greater danger of a fatal crash as more peer passengers ride along

For generations, teenagers have been the most dangerous drivers on the road, crashing almost four times more often than older drivers. A study released Tuesday quantifies for the first time in a decade how their risk of a fatal crash multiplies when they have other teenagers in the car.

In sports played by both sexes, girls are reporting nearly twice as many concussions. Researchers blame girls’ weaker necks as many young athletes are having to give up the sports they love. NBC’s Kate Snow reports.

When shopping for your child's next bicycle, like a pair of shoes, it's important to buy a bike that fits properly. Click 'Read more' for bike-buying guidelines from American Academy of Pediatrics.

A former nurse at a Minnesota assisted living facility has been sentenced to a year in prison for stealing painkilling medication from patients. Bert Allen Sieler, 40, of Coon Rapids was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on Tuesday, May 8, on a single count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. In a September plea agreement, he admitted that in February 2011 he took Percocet from patients' medication bottles and replaced it with acetaminophen, often sold as Tylenol.

For heart attack survivors, living close to a roadway may be hazardous for their health, a new study suggests. The results show that heart attack survivors who lived about 300 feet (100 meters) from a major roadway at the time of their heart attack were 27 percent more likely to die over the next 10 years compared with those who lived at least 3,200 feet (1,000 m) from a roadway.

Everyone knows teen behavior is highly influenced by their friends, but a new study finds even a friend's parents can influence whether or not a teen drinks alcohol or uses drugs. If the parents of your teen's friends are unaware of their child's drug or alcohol use, or worse, condone it, that may make your child more likely to partake as well, the study found.

'Alarming trend': Abuse of medications has surpassed almost all illicit drugs

One in eight older teens has used powerful painkillers when they weren't prescribed — and many of them start misusing the medications earlier than was previously assumed, according to new research.

By the time new parents take their babies home from the hospital, they have been thoroughly drilled on the litany of infant-sleep no-nos: No stomach-sleeping. No loose blankets. No pillows. No soft mattresses. No crib bumpers. The list goes on. Whether parents choose to follow these rules is another matter.

More Minnesota children are dying in day care, mostly at in-home providers

Robert Fletcher vividly remembers the call that changed his family forever. It was a May morning four years ago — just a few hours after his wife, Amanda, had dropped off their infant son for his second day at a new day care. Now Amanda was on the phone, sobbing hysterically, with the news that Blake was dead.

The prescription painkiller business was booming in 2009, making millionaires of Chris and Jeff George, twin brothers who operated several pain clinics in South Florida. Unfortunately for them, their customers had a tendency to die, and not always in a subtle fashion.

Postal carriers dropped off empty pill bottles in four metro ZIP codes

Sunday's test of an emergency system for delivering medication to Twin Cities households via the U.S. mail went off without obvious hitches, but it'll take time to assess it for less obvious problems and barriers, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health said Sunday evening.

Minnesota has some of the leanest training requirements in the nation with respect to preventing SIDS and limiting other infant hazards at licensed family child care. The state is one of 26 where in-home providers don't need high school degrees, and one of 10 where providers need no more than nine hours of annual training.

Bird flu can be transmitted between mammals — and possible humans — needing only four mutations to do so, a new study published this week in the journal Nature suggests. But the mutant virus is not deadly, and the work could show virologists how to combat others like it.

Parents with poor math skills are more likely than others to give incorrect doses of medicine to their children, a new study finds. The study included 289 parents of children younger than 8 years who were prescribed a short course of liquid medication after being seen in a pediatric emergency department. The parents were given three tests to assess their math and reading skills, and researchers also watched the parents as they measured out a dose of the medication prescribed for their child.

Special-needs youth with chronic medical conditions or developmental disabilities are at risk for anxiety and depression if they're excluded, ignored or bullied by other young people, a new small study says.

A pair of new studies offers insight into young people who use cellphones while driving: One finds that there's no safe position for texting at the wheel, while the other suggests that the most compulsive cellphone users have had more car accidents.

Watch this ECHO video to learn the signs of severe weather, the difference been a weather watch and weather warning, how to take action and how to find a safe place to take shelter in your home.

When there are thunderstorms in your area, turn on your radio or TV to get the latest emergency information from local authorities. Listen for announcements of a tornado watch or tornado warning.