Mark 16:15 “Go everywhere and tell the Good News to everyone”. Whether you are an avid follower of the scripture or receive your daily updates via the Bible app, this passage not only describes the Pittsburgh Christian Fellowship, but it is part of their mission! The vision of the church is to teach people to reach their world with the Good News of Jesus Christ while connecting with a community of believers. The church is nicely nested on top of Mount Oliver located on Brownsville road. Their team is also lead by Senior Pastor Chris DeMark who is supported by his wife, Belinda DeMark, and two daughters, Joyus and Faith DeMark. This bunch spends every day reaching out to others, providing them a safe and welcoming place to worship.
Fellowship reaching the masses
The Pittsburgh Christian Fellowship provides many opportunities to become involved including Sunday Services, events throughout the year and a Podcast featuring none other than Senior Pastor Chris DeMark. Chris became Senior Pastor of the church in 1994 and since has provided ample opportunity for others to join in his mission.
Along with providing masses and summer programs and picnics, the church coordinates and connects individuals who may be struggling by accepting the following fundraising offerings:
Tithes
Missions
Emergency
Youth
Children
Mens
Womens
Like we said, if you cannot find time for a Sunday mass, simply listen to one of the recorded podcasts and get YA JESUS ON!
Paths crossing at the right time
Belinda is a current employee of Highmark Inc. in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. She noticed an online article that was posted about another employee who frequently provided churches the opportunity to become CPR/First Aid certified. Without hesitation she reached out to Lucas Boyd, at the time also a Highmark Employee. Together, they planned a weekend where leaders in the church and volunteers could receive life saving training in CPR/AED/First Aid.
One of the biggest reasons why The Pittsburgh Christian Fellowship wanted to get certified was due to the high volume of youngsters who attend on weekends and in the summer. Having all members trained in case of an emergency was a must! B42L (Before It’s Too Late LLC) came in and trained 9 individuals how to properly perform life saving skills. Right place and right time? It is odd to think about it but what would have happened if Belinda did not have the courage or thought to give that article a read?! Now we won’t say that higher intervention had anything to do with the class taking place, but it is very incredible that Belinda decided one day to click an article and found an answer to her problem.
Skills that SAVE LIVES
As every chapter preceded, the group asked questions on how best to attack a multitude of situations. Wanting to ensure each participant was able to respond to just about anything, we can tell you many “what if” scenarios were quickly answered. The group was able to have open discussion and practice their skills with real life walkthroughs. We covered some of the following topics:
Recognizing and Responding to Emergencies
Cardiac Emergencies including Cardiac Arrest – CPR
AED basics and skills
Choking recognition and skills
Sudden Illnesses
First Aid and wrapping a wound skills
Environmental Emergencies – heat/cold related
In addition to certifying the group in these skills, each member walked away with B42L’s “assurance plan” (life saving tool that refreshes skills used in CPR on the spot). The members of this parish didn’t decide to request a class for compliance reasons or to check a box for safety training. Rather, each member had a deep interest on how they could each be better equipped to serve their community. This type of GOOD FAITH makes it certain that the church and its message is most definitely spreading the word and is doing the right thing, no matter what.
Giving back
The Pittsburgh Christian fellowship gives so much and asks for very little in return. Recently, the church had a roof problem where the damage done has caused leaking and ceiling tiles to deteriorate. The church plans on having designated offerings to raise money to replace the tiles and fix the leaky roof! If you are interested in donating please reach out to Pastor DeMark!
For nearly a century, the Ellwood Group has grown through innovation and strategic acquisitions. It should also be noted that the group is the leading supplier of quality metals and custom-engineered components for worldwide applications. The Ellwood group has a tremendous footprint that now covers more than 25 locations across North America. From the looks of it over time, it is easy to say they live up to their mission statement, “Our mission is to use our metallurgy know-how to provide critical engineered solutions”.
The group has functions including:
Steelmaking
Forging
Machining
Distribution
Cladding & Fabrication
Casting
R&D
With such a vast line of offerings, The Ellwood Group makes it a point to not only serve their customers, but treat everyone as FAMILY. The group has committed to its employees by celebrating other’s successes and supporting in times of needs. Moreover, each of the 25 locations are treated like HOME and is properly stewarded. To give you an idea of how big this group is, we decided to breakdown the markets you can see their work in:
Like we said, The Ellwood Group has sizable capabilities and footprint. Each plant and location has an integral function and role for the group’s unique customer base.The Ellwood Quality Steels branch was founded in 1985 and the melt shop was to be the premier producer of the highest quality clean steel ingots around. This location holds a 45 ton electric arc furnace that is a sight to see.
Their electroslag and vacuum allows the location to re-melt ingots to serve the most demanding applications thought of. This location is unlike any other as it also provides cutting-edge metallurgical lab equipment that is used in R&D techniques. While we love highlighting the capabilities of the plant, we should also talk about how their team gets the job done.
Safety is Success
ELLWOOD has a commitment to getting the job done right and protects its employees in the process. Like we said, things could get a little heated if you’re operating with a 45 ton arc furnace. Quite often, companies especially as large as ELLWOOD, may take safety as a last minute check box. That isn’t how Ellwood Quality Steel runs the show though. In fact, their goal is not only to comply with industry standards, but exceed them. There are multiple ways the group gets this done.
Management Leadership and Employee Involvement
Worksite Analysis
Hazard Prevention and Control
Training
Each facility goes above and beyond with their safety culture, regulation, and processes. Ellwood Quality Steels recently just had 15 of their staff members become trained in the life saving skills of CPR/AED/First Aid. Now we did mention that the group’s goal is to exceed compliance regulations, and a group this size with all differing job functions hit incredible standards.
Bobbie Myers is Ellwood Quality Steel’s first line of defense when it comes to safety. She is the Safety and Environmental Manager for this location and made it a point to set up a class for her staff. Bobbie provides value by supporting on EHS projects, conducting EHS Audits, Safety Training and BBS development. With all of this on her plate, she reached out to Before It’s Too Late LLC and made sure she was covering Emergency Preparedness. You never know what could go wrong, especially when you’re working with Steel!
The class covered multiple topics for both Adult and Pediatric Situations of Cardiac Arrest and First Aid emergencies. This class was taught to a group who works for a Steel company but can always feel prepared using their skills in their own homes and communities. Here are a few topics we were able to cover:
Ellwood Quality Steel employees and management takes CPR/AED/First Aid class with B42L (Before It’s Too Late LLC)
Recognizing and Responding to Emergencies
Cardiac Emergencies including Cardiac Arrest – CPR
AED basics and skills
Choking recognition and skills
Sudden Illnesses
First Aid and wrapping a wound skills
Environmental Emergencies – heat/cold related
Each member of the class was able to sit through a lecture portion that was aided with videos and interactive critical thinking scenarios. In addition to the more “classroom style” learning, we also had each member get down to business and practice their skills as if an emergency was actually taking place. The Ellwood staff practiced doing chest compressions and rescue breaths and also were able to use a simulated AED (Automatic External Defibrillator). In addition to those skills, we covered First Aid for choking and wrapping a wound!
Each member immediately treated the day as a learning opportunity and took charge of the scenario at play! Ellwood Quality Steel also was able to take advantage of B42l’s assurance plan. A life saving piece of PPE that serves as a real time refresher.
https://dev.b42l.com/shop/product/cpr-wrap/
Slippery Rock Safety Connections 02
As we recognize Bobbie’s group we also want to highlight some similar safety roots between The Ellwood Group and B42L.
Bobbie Myers was a graduate from the highly recognized safety program at Slippery Rock University! With all of B42L’s staff also walking through those same safety doors of at the Strain Behavioral Safety building it was a great time seeing Slippery Rock Alumni doing great work well after their time as students. The SRU Safety Program has ROCK SOLID graduates providing ROCK SOLID work and SAFETY to some of the world’s most important industries!
B42L enjoys connecting with Slippery Rock University graduates and aiding in any way possible. Whether you run a church group, own a fitness studio or are in a more traditional Safety Position like Bobbie, please connect! It is important to understand that cultivating a safety culture is not one person’s responsibility.
B42L Campus Ambassador 2019-2020 School year
Check out how we continue to provide Slippery Rock value with our campus ambassador role! B42L provides discounted classes for Slippery Rock University students on a monthly basis and has provided scholarship opportunities for individuals who work with us!
If you know plastics, then you should know the name Saint Gobain. This plastics group is the world’s leading producer of some pretty high performance polymer products and has made a positive difference in just about every major industry you could think of. The group has embedded their product in bearings of race cars and even radar devices used in military aircrafts. Like I said, if you know plastics, you know Saint Gobain.
The French founded company was established in 1665 which means not only are they delivering high grade products and services but they have been doing so for over 300 years! Through business acquisitions and the innovation, Saint Gobain now serves customers in 67 different countries and employs over 170,000 workers. One of the reasons why this giant plastics group performs so well is their focus on safety. Saint Gobain invests in their workforce by providing the highest quality of training programs! They were recognized as one of the world’s top 100 industrial corporations and as a leader in an array of engineered materials.
Safe Working Environments
Being the best at engineering solutions starts by providing safe working conditions for employees. If you think you could become an industry leader while not practicing your processes safely, you are out in left field alone.
Safety has to take top priority when working with machinery, or in environments with high risk. Engineering plastics is complicated to say the least. The steps that simple materials undergo before becoming the finished product illustrates how ingrained safety needs to be. That means workers at Saint Gobain are prepared and provided with proper PPE (personal protective equipment) and training.
Safety is not just about wearing your ear plugs and steel toed boots though. Safety is coming in to work every day and doing your job the RIGHT way! With that in mind, accidents and incidents occur and human error can never be avoided 100% of the time. Saint Gobain employees have adopted a safety culture that is unlike any other.
Emergency Preparedness and CPR/First Aid
Now we just pointed out that Saint Gobain is a world leader in their solutions and also takes safety as serious as the average Steeler fan takes Super Bowl Sunday. One factor that is hard to quantify is safety moral and safety culture.
Safety culture is the collection of the beliefs, perceptions and values that employees share in relation to risks within an organization, such as a workplace or community.[
The safety culture in any major plant starts from the ground up. Engaging the workforce to practice safely and voluntarily practice with purpose is a Safety Directors dream. Saint Gobain’s Cleveland plastics plant should furthermore be the go to example of what it means to adopt safety culture.
EHS leader Andrew Proya, oversees the safety of his plant and employees. He recently reached out to get his staff trained in First Aid/CPR/AED. Now let’s make sure we mention that there are OSHA standards set in place forcing plants to have staff members trained. SEE OSHA standard 1910 for details BUT…..
23 Saint Gobain employees volunteer to join plant emergency response team!
The interesting thing about Andrew’s group is that over 20 participants volunteered to join the emergency response team. Each member sat through a 4 hour training session that covered topics of CPR/AED/First Aid. The class certified individuals in life saving skills (American Red Cross Certified Instructors and material). Not only did Andrew achieve a compliance standard, but his workforce went out of their own way personally to become involved. This CPR/AED/First Aid class was provided by Before It’s Too Late LLC better known as B42L.
Here are some of the topics we covered:
Recognizing and Responding to Emergencies
Cardiac Emergencies including Cardiac Arrest – CPR
AED basics and skills
Choking recognition and skills
Sudden Illnesses
First Aid and wrapping a wound skills
Environmental Emergencies – heat/cold related
These group members had a plethora of subtopics in their course and all had the opportunity to test skills out. This class again allowed participants to learn a skill and then test their knowledge in real world application simulations. Because these skills are renewed on a two year basis, B42L also provided their new Assurance Policy for the plant cost free. If you are interested in seeing this assurance policy, check it out below:
NOTE: Our “Assurance Policy” should only be viewed by individuals who want to ensure their program continues to be the leader in their respective industry***
As we recognize Andrew’s group, we want to also highlight
some similar safety roots between Saint Gobain and B42L.
Andrew Proya was a graduate of the highly creditable
Slippery Rock University Safety Management program. B42L’s entire staff is also
proud alumni of the university and most of that program as well. Slippery Rock
University has one of the most respected and credible safety programs in the
United States. The program has some ROCK SOLID graduates providing ROCK SOLID
work and SAFETY to some of the world’s biggest players.
SRU Grads connect! Saint Gobain EHS professional leans into safety training with Before It’s Too late LLC (B42L) Lucas A. Boyd
B42L enjoys connecting with Slippery Rock University
graduates and aiding in any way possible. Whether you run a church group, own a
fitness studio or are in a more traditional Safety Position like Andrew, please
connect! It is important to understand
that cultivating a safety culture is not one person’s responsibility.
Check out how we continue to provide Slippery Rock value with our campus ambassador role! B42L provides discounted classes for Slippery Rock University students on a monthly basis and has provided scholarship opportunities for individuals who work with us!
Before It’s Too Late has had one memorable 2018 and we look forward to riding the success into 2019. 2018 was full of milestones. We were able to hit 1,000 trained responders, built new relationships across our 3 states of service and recognized the individual effort that was shown by one of our first trained students.
Campus Ambassadors
Our 2018 Campus Ambassador Program was a complete success. Senior Safety Management students Jovi Ryder and Damon Morris, both played incredible roles in reaching students at Slippery Rock University during the 2018 fall semester. The Campus Ambassador Role was designed to educate, empower, and endorse students who show outstanding interest and participation in safety and emergency preparedness.
Jovi and Damon were able to recruit students from over 10 different majors to participate in on-campus training events. The total number of participants for the fall of 2018 was 108 Slippery Rock Students. This is the most participation we have ever had in one semester at Slippery Rock and now these students are all equipped to help SAVE LIVES!
The Campus Ambassador program also is a financial assistance program that aids providing a $500 scholarship to its participants. In the 2019 spring semester Damon and Jovi will be offered the opportunity to sit for their instructor certification.
As we approach our 3rd year of operations, we are able to report more than $12,000 has been allocated to The American Red Cross. B42L was also honored to be nominated as a local Jefferson Award Recipient by Highmark Inc.
The Jefferson Awards recognize and champion individuals who make an impact in their community. Highmark also made a donation to The Miracle League of South Hills, a non profit baseball league for individuals with special needs.
We look forward to continued community service and impact in 2019!
The RULE OF 2
Each class provided by B42L has both lecture and hands-on skills assessment. Depending on the class size, the skills portion could last around 2 hours. We take pride in ensuring every participant who takes a class with us hits the learning objectives but more importantly can confidently answer this question:
“Although we learned these skills in around 2 hours, if you needed to, could you perform these skills 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years down the road?”
Because our certifications are good for 2 years, we make sure that every student is confident in their abilities. If they cannot say “yes” to that question → back to compressions and back to helping rescue our manicans named “Bob”.
This rule for us has shown to be a nice way to ensure anyone who takes a class with us is educated and empowered to take action if called upon. We reflect on one story as proof. Samantha Balaj was a student over 2 years ago with B42L. She was actually in one of our first classes ever. Samantha used her skills in CPR and emergency preparedness to help rescue a fellow student suffering cardiac arrest.
The big picture is Samantha used her skills almost 2 years after taking a class with us. Her certification was set to expire almost a week after the event took place. We applaud Samantha in her efforts and she will be recognized nationally by The American Red Cross in Washington D.C this spring!
Check out the full video interview with Samantha Here
B42L has launched a blog that focuses on delivering health and safety related topics. That means even if you have not taken a class with us, you can still read up on important relevant topics in the health and safety world.
We have covered topics such as:
AED tips
What is Heart Disease
Resume Building for the safety professional
We will continue writing informative content into the new year. Be sure to subscribe to our email list and follow our social media for all blog posts!
Industry Specific Training
B42L takes pride in providing classes in multiple industries. In 2018 we are happy to report classes in the following industries/lines of business
Oil and Gas
Manufacturing
Personal Training
Cycling/Group Fitness
Education (special education school systems)
Transportation
Civil Engineering
We are currently also moving forward on developing an application process for Universities to apply for PEC Safeland Instruction for their students in Safety Management and Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Programs.
Between 2010 and 2040 there is an estimated 56% net growth in global energy demand. B42L is looking forward to providing the training needed to help fulfil this need and equip students with training that serves the booming industry.
2019 plans
In 2019 B42L looks forward to providing the most excellent training experience for your company, organization, group. We also will be launching our new Online store providing safety equipment and emergency preparedness tools.
AED
We want to say thank you to everyone who has joined us in our mission to SAVE LIVES and ask that you continue to help spread our message #BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
