Horizon Health Provides Life-Saving Training at Christensen Farms

When a prominent local pork producer needed life-saving training for its employees, Horizon Health responded.

Over a three-day period in September, Horizon Health provided cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to 17 non-English speaking employees at Christensen Farms in Paris. The training included first aid and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), which helps restore normal heart rhythm in people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest.

“They were over the top excited that we did this,” said Sean Robison, Horizon Health emergency medical technician and lead CPR instructor. “We’re going the extra mile to support our community members who don’t speak English, making sure they’re properly trained and feel confident enough to save a life.”

Certified CPR instructors from as far away as St. Louis and Chicago were unable to accommodate the farm’s request. That is when Horizon Health stepped in to help.

“The local resources had not yet adapted to the growing need for inclusive, language-specific training, particularly in CPR and AED certification,” said Amber Portner, Christensen Farms communications manager. “Horizon Health stepped up to meet this critical need.”

With help from a bilingual translator, the farm employees are now CPR certified through the American Red Cross for the next two years.

“Although we have bilingual resources for many of our internal trainings, we identified a gap in CPR training for non-English speaking employees, which relied on external providers. Partnering with Horizon Health has allowed us to close that gap,” Portner added.

Horizon Health has provided CPR training at Christensen Farms in the past, but never to Spanish speaking-only workers. That process took about a year to coordinate due to certification requirements and language considerations.

“When Sean was approached by Christensen Farms about the possibility of offering this outreach course in a different language than he speaks, the answer was not ‘no,’ but how do we do this,” said Samantha McCarty, Horizon Health director of emergency services. “He worked to figure out a way to meet our communities ever-changing healthcare needs, and I am so proud of the work he continually does.”

Horizon Health plans to continue CPR training at the farm next summer.

“We are proud to now offer CPR and AED training in Spanish, making it accessible to more of our team and ensuring everyone is prepared in case of an emergency,” Portner said.

About Christensen Farms

Minnesota-based Christensen Farms is one of the largest, family-owned pork producers in the nation. With nearly 1,000 employees and 1,500 contract partners, the company has facilities in Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The company is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024.