ACRONYMS SAVE LIVES TOO

Acronyms are common vernacular in the banking industry. As a customer, I can’t avoid them! They are used when discussing my mortgage, my car loans, the place I pull cash out, even that thing my parents gave each of my children when they were born. You know what I am referring to... My twins, who are 18 now, only know that a CD has monetary value. Can you believe they don’t know they play music too? Good grief, this is making me feel old.

Please let me change the subject a bit.

Does the name Denny Kellington ring a bell? Denny is the Head Athletic Trainer (HAT) for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. Denny is also the person who immediately started CPR on 25-year-old safety, Damar Hamlin when his heart stopped in the middle of a game last season. Denny spoke at Oklahoma State University’s commencement this past month and in his remarks he said he is constantly being hailed as a hero, to which he responds, “I am not a hero, but what I was that night, was ready.” Those words might be in the running for the understatement of the year.

Denny Kellington’s day to day in Orchard Park, New York is like yours as it is acronym filled as well. He is constantly checking BMIs, treating torn ACLs and he sees the occasional broken TIB/FIB. What Denny does not do every day is provide resuscitating chest compressions (CPR) on lifeless 25-year-olds. What happened that chilly night in Cincinnati was not something that Denny expected to happen when he went to work that day, in fact 99% of athletic trainers will never encounter something like that in their entire career but Denny was ready, he knew exactly what to do and the simple actions he took saved Damar Hamlin’s life.

In late 2022 the Ohio Bankers League and citizenAID partnered on a program called the Ohio Bank Safety Initiative (or OBSI, so we are acronym friendly) to help make Ohio banks and Ohio communities safer.

The OBSI, will hopefully become a familiar acronym in your office as it is a program that empowers bank employees to help save lives of seriously injured people in the event of a crisis at work. Seconds count when someone is seriously hurt, just like they do when someone is having a cardiac event. There are simple steps that need to be taken before EMS (Emergency Medical Services) arrives to maximize the injured persons chances of survival, whether that person is a colleague or a customer, it is someone who is in dire need of immediate help and your employees are the only ones who can play that initial role. citizenAID partnered with two Ohio banks just before the pandemic to test this initiative. We provided short online training programs for employees and put public access trauma equipment in branches and shortly after the program rolled out, two citizenAID trained and equipped bank associates saved an elderly woman’s life while at work. She was seriously injured, they applied direct pressure to her wound, they put a tourniquet on her leg, and this was all done within two minutes of her sustaining the injury.

The OBSI was designed to make your employees Denny Kellingtons. Everyday life in the banking associate’s world is APRs, IRAs and NSFs but what if one day something happens and they are in a position to help save a life. Would your team be ready?

Now The Ohio Bankers League and citizenAID want to build off that life-saving measure with the creation of the OBSI. This safety initiative will not only make all Ohio banking institutions safer but it will make Ohio Schools safer as well. citizenAID is matching all your employee training one for one and putting the same life saving training into the school districts of your choice, in your bank’s name.

If we can make your workplace and your communities safer for less than what it would cost to put a promotional banner up announcing a new APR, would that be worthwhile for your institution?

Bob Otter Founder and CEO citizenAID