We built this on the living room floor.
Nursenfire cpr
How it all got started
Sam started teaching CPR in 2016. Not to build a business... because it made him better at his actual job.
CPR is one of the few skills where you see it work in real time. Someone's gone, you do it right, and they come back. Once you've watched that happen, you want everyone around you to know how.
His first class was Nicole's nursing cohort, on the living room floor, compressions and AED skills between the coffee table and the couch. Word spread the old-fashioned way, one nurse telling another, all of them asking for someone who'd actually teach it.
The work kept going, because the people kept showing up.
NurseNFire was born from reputation. Nicole the nurse and Sam the firefighter.... the name came easy. Everything else, they built.
"They even had cookies for us after I had just gotten off night shift. SO worth it. "
Erika
Nursenfire cpr
Why we really do this
Riverside is smaller than it looks. The nurse in the back row today is the one calling out a rhythm next to Sam on a real code a year from now. We've watched it happen, a student we taught, running the exact scenario we drilled, doing it right, when it mattered most.
That's the whole reason we won't just sign you off. We're not getting you a card. We're getting the people we'll be standing beside actually ready. And if you walk in nervous, you're in the right room.
We've got you.
"I was so nervous I was just going to walk out clueless. Nicole has taught me how to respond quickly as a mom with small children, if that time ever comes."
Lauren— Mom & Pediatric Nurse
Nursenfire cpr
The way we teach
No death by slideshow. Sam and Nicole teach the way the brain actually holds onto things, so the rhythms stick and the algorithms make sense long after you leave. It has a name, brain-based learning. You'll just call it "the first class that made this click."
Friendly faces of NurseNFire
Eleven years as a firefighter-paramedic, and Sam has run more codes than he can count. That's the thing to hold onto when you're nervous — the moment that scares you is a Tuesday for him. He's been in the worst version of it, more than once, and walked back out. So when he tells you you're ready, that's not a pep talk. It's a read from someone who knows exactly what ready looks like.
He's not in this for the money. He's in it to keep the standard where it belongs. The Master's in Public Administration and a Bachelor's in Fire Protection back up what the field already taught him. When he's not teaching, he's usually still out on a call, doing the exact thing he's showing you how to do.
Sam San Martin
Firefighter-Paramedic · MPA
Nicole chose kids on purpose. She's finishing her Master's in Pediatric Health on the way to Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, and she's seen what's on the table when the patient is small, scared, and can't tell you what's wrong. She thinks the people caring for them should be truly ready, not just certified.
She's the warm one. The one who catches the doubt on your face and tells you, more than once if that's what it takes, that you've got this. And she means it.
Nicole San Martin
Pediatric Nurse · Future PNP
Nursenfire cpr
What's coming next
Right now, class happens in a dedicated room in our home. Every mannequin and monitor is nearby. Next up is a studio going in out back, a space just for our students, including a loft with a couch or two for the people who stick around after. We started on a living room floor..... we're still not done building.
Courage isn't the absence of nerves. It's moving anyway. That's the whole thing we teach... and it starts with one small action.