Frequently Asked Questions

Due to our skills format (and the security policy of our building), we only permit students who have paid for their AHA skills session or course on our site to access our location. Unknown persons are not permitted in our building - no exceptions. While our skills location is in the West Town neighborhood, we only provide our full address and office number to paid students (this information is found in the email receipt you receive immediately after purchase - check your spam folder if you don't see it right away). Since we do not accept cash, all students must purcahse their AHA course or skills session on our site before coming to our location.

As per AHA's 2020 Guidelines, AHA now offers multiple hybrid options for training. These online hybrid courses are completely equal to an "all in-person class" but allow you to watch the course videos and take the written exam from home prior to your skills session. AHA online hybrid courses provide the exact same official AHA certification eCard as traditional "all in-person classes." If you were told you need an "in-person" course, AHA's online hybrid courses meet your requirement since they include a hands-on skills session.

The two online hybrid format classes offered by AHA through our organization are HICE (Hybrid Online In-person Course Equivalent) and HeartCode Gold. The classes have roughly the same online content and include the same in-person skills session in the price. HeartCode Gold (more expensive) provides two years of free access to the online eBook. Both courses yield the same 2-year certification eCard after completing the skills session. Sign up by placing payment today: AHA BLS, AHA ACLS, or AHA PALS.

If you registered for a course on AHA's site, you must still place payment on our site and carefully read all instructions in your email receipt. After reading the instructions in your email receipt, you will be permitted to perform skills anytime from 5am - 9pm, rather than the time you reserved. Select and place payment for HICE, HeartCode Gold, or a skills session-only on our site: AHA ACLS, BLS, or PALS (NOTE: The skills-session-only option is for students who already completed online HeartCode).

For students who have made a purchase on our site, our in-person location in central Chicago is open from 5am - 9pm every day, 365 days per year, with no appointments required. After you finish the online portion of your course, you can come to the in-person location to perform hands-on skills whenever you would like. You can purchase an online course+skills session combo or skills-session only (if you've already completed HeartCode) at our Chicago AHA course page.

You are only able to cancel your AHA course registration if you have purchased BLS, ACLS, or PALS HeartCode Gold and have not yet begun your class. HICE classes provide instant access to the online learning portal and are thus non-refundable.

Self-paced class times vary based on a number of factors, including knowledge level of the student and how much the student starts and stops their coursework. A BLS class may take 2-4 hours, and an ACLS or PALS class may take 5-8 hours. If you add BLS to an ACLS or PALS class, that will add 30 minutes to your total class time.

To add BLS to an ACLS or PALS class, just click the "Add BLS to ACLS/PALS Full class" button at the top of either the ACLS or PALS page. This will extend your ACLS or PALS course by 30 minutes.

To maximize savings, we recommend our ACLS and PALS HICE courses, and you can also add BLS to an ACLS or PALS class by clicking the "Add BLS to ACLS/PALS Full class" button at the top of either the ACLS or PALS page.

Absolutely! If you have already done the online HeartCode class and just need the skills session, our virtual BLS, ACLS, and PALS skills sessions allow students to perform multiple skills sessions at the same time. View the bottom of each page to add AHA skills sessions to your cart for checkout.

If you have not yet finished the online HeartCode class, consider our HICE or HeartCode Gold options, which include the online class.

All HC Gold courses (BLS, ACLS, and PALS) include two years of access to the eBook. HICE courses do not include an eBook, but you can purchase one separately on our AHA course books page. Note that eBooks are emailed after purchase - typically within 4 hours of purchase. The American Heart Association recommends that students have access to the provider manual for their course before, during, and after the course video portion. Students may also use the provider manual during their provider exam.

Absolutely! Simply add the course(s) to your cart, check out, and then send the name and email address of any additional student to us at help(at)trainchicagoheart.org.

The AHA requires that every student watch all the course videos and undergo testing (including skills-based testing) every two years - which can be done via an online hybrid course (HeartCode) or our HICE class. We especially recommend our HICE class for renewal students.

The term "BLS for Healthcare Providers" was discontinued by AHA in 2015, and the name of the class and certification was changed to simply "BLS" (Basic Life Support). If your school or workplace told you to get a "BLS for Healthcare Providers" certification, please encourage them to update their terminology to "BLS." We are also happy to contact them for you and make that suggestion.

There is no such thing as a "BLS for Non-healthcare Providers" class. Instead, the AHA course that is designed for laypersons is called "HeartSaver CPR." That being said, anyone can take a BLS course. Even though it includes more information than the HeartSaver class, there are no pre-requisites for BLS enrollment.

After you have passed all requirements of your course, you will receive an email from AHA that allows you to go through the process to claim and download your eCard. This email may take a couple hours to arrive to your inbox. AHA's eCard system will ask you accept their terms and fill out an optional survey, and then you may download your eCard in two different formats, which you can email to a school or employer, or upload to a job application.

The money you paid for the online HeartCode BLS went to AHA corporate in Dallas, and not the actual training site/center that issues certification cards. We must also collect a payment to cover the costs of providing your skills session To pay for your skills session, click "sign up" above, and then scroll to the bottom of the ACLS, BLS, or PALS page to find the skills sessions.

We understand the world of AHA training can be confusing for people who are new to it, especially when your school or employer has terrified you by claiming it's possible you may wind up in a fake CPR class and receive a fake certification. We are an official AHA Training Site, and yes all our cards are official AHA certifications. We wrote an entire blog post about fraudulent AHA classes, which you can read to find out more about how to avoid such classes: trainchicagoheart.org/high-fidelity-acls-bls.html

AHA BLS fulfills every CPR requirement in the country. It is a robust course that includes CPR for adults, children, and infants, AED use, airway and breathing information, and first aid info like how to clear choking. It fulfills the CPR requirement for nurses, child care providers, physical therapists, teachers, EMS personnel, and everyone else.

No, and no. You must pay on our website. Click sign up at the top of the page to find a class and pay.

You may visit our BLS Instructor course page or ACLS Instructor course page to see if you qualify to become an Instructor. We update requirements from time to time.

If you're interested in aligning and affiliating with Chicago Heart Training, please contact us at help(at)trainchicagoheart.org. If you receive an automated response related to provider courses, please disregard. We will provide a personal response to your message in less than two days.

As of 2023, Chicago Heart Training is not currently offering external AHA ACLS, BLS, and PALS classes. We hope to offer external classes again in the future.