Margaret Snooks, lecturer in Fitness and Human Performance, received the Health and Safety 1,000 Hour Certificate of Appreciation and a Volunteer First Aid and Lifesaving Service Medal from the American Red Cross.

The award is recognition for the number of hours she spends teaching first aid. Snooks teaches a college level course called First Aid Responding to Emergencies. She has been teaching at UH- Clear Lake and the American Red Cross for about 12 years.

"If you are looking for someone to be a role model, she is a mentor; she is involved in academia and volunteerism," said Harry Stenvall, director of risk management and head committee member of the South Bay Area branch office of the Red Cross. "Red Cross is a good organization to volunteer at because they recognize their volunteers."

Stenvall teaches Community First Aid and Safety, and Managing Stress at UH-Clear Lake and the Red Cross.

"It's a very nice thing to be honored for work," Snooks said. "But I would do this even if there were no honors, medals or certificates. It's really a labor of love."

Snooks also has an instructor certification. In addition to receiving college credit for the course, students can be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid.

"The program that I teach here is called Fitness and Human Performance," Snooks said. "Students can receive bachelor's or master's degrees. Ordinarily, students must have CPR certification when they go out into the job market. It's part of their basic requirements to get a job in fitness and human performance."

Snooks says she has a very diverse group of students who take her class.

The class is useful for business students who want to pursue a career in teaching because they are going to be working in businesses connected to the petro-chemical industry, where it frequently has emergency situations.

Biology students take her class because they are interested in going to medical school.

They use this course as an elective related to their field of interest.

Human Sciences and Humanities students who plan on entering hospital administration also take her course.

Snooks enjoys teaching the course because it is relevant and useful. She says her students often come back and tell her about first aid experiences they have had.

"I had a student who was talking to her dad over the phone," Snooks said. "He told her that he was having chest pains. She said 'dad you are probably having a heart-attack,' and she hung up and called 911. The next day he was having a quadruple bypass."

Snooks offers another example of how important life-saving techniques are to her students.

"I had a student last semester after we had covered rescue breathing for children; her 4 year old choked and stopped breathing. She relieved the choking and did CPR until the ambulance came and now her child is just fine."

Snooks has always been a dedicated worker for the American Red Cross.

In fact, she says she has been an American Red Cross volunteer worker nearly all her life.

When Snooks was a child, she taught swimming for the American Red Cross in a learn-to-swim program in Beaumont, Texas. In high school, Snooks says she was very active in what was called the Junior Red Cross.

"I actually went with a group of about 40 American teenagers to Europe to look at Red Cross activities in Europe," Snooks said. "In Italy, they had Red Cross orphanages. The country was still recovering from World War II. A lot of Red Cross activities had to do with recovery of those countries in the aftermath."

Snooks reflects heavily on what the Red Cross is doing today.

"The thing I think about when I think about the Red Cross is [how active the Red Cross is during] wartime," Snooks said. "Right now there are Red Cross volunteers from around the world focusing on the war in Iraq. The International office of the Red Cross is in Geneva, Switzerland. It protects soldiers, civilians and prisoners of war. I know that the International Red Cross is there helping take care of people, it's a humanitarian organization. I'm very happy they exist. I think it's a great organization and I'm very happy to support them in their efforts."

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