Meet Chad and Shelley Lynch of ACLS Academy in Quincy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chad and Shelley Lynch.

In 2014, a TSA worker at Boston Logan Airport cardiac arrested in the baggage claim area on Shelley’s way home from a business trip. Shelley performed CPR and used the AED to save the man’s life. Shelley is a Nurse Practitioner and works in critical care. She has been an American Heart Association (AHA) instructor for Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Heartsaver First Aid/CPR/AED, and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) since 2001. However, after this event, it brought up a concern that more people should know what to do in such an event. When she brought this up to her husband, who is in the United States Coast Guard, he was completely onboard with starting a company to empower other people with the knowledge and ability to respond in order to save a life.

When someone has a Sudden Cardiac Arrest, the survival depends on the quick actions of people nearby to call 911, start CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), and use an AED (automated external defibrillator). Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the third leading cause of death in the US and 9 out of 10 people will die unless a bystander intervenes. These statistics are the reason why they want to provide education to as many people as possible.

They want to bring their knowledge, skills, and compassion to teach medical professionals, first responders, and the Greater Boston community! When they started this company, it was just Chad and Shelley. But when they shared their vision, they soon gathered the education and experience of 12 other instructors from doctors, nurse practitioners, critical care nurses, paramedics, and coaches.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our struggles include managing a work-life balance since the company services an industry that requires classes days, evenings, and weekends. Start-up companies take a lot of work to get running, so we have slowly improved our website, hired a marketing manager, and used services from Score. Both of us continued to work full-time jobs with ACLS Academy as a side job until we built up enough business for Chad to focus solely on running the company. Chad reflects upon the transition from a 9-5 office job to working for himself to be both daunting and rewarding.

ACLS Academy – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
ACLS Academy specializes in all American Heart Association course ACLS, PALS, BLS, NRP, and Heartsaver classes. We are known for our professional, high quality classes and we consider all of our student’s part of our community. We pride ourselves on making everyone feel comfortable, whether they are locals or out-of-towners.

Keith Mitchell –
“This place gets 6/5 stars! It is truly a service by healthcare providers for healthcare providers. The learning environment is comfortable. Shelley even went as far as helping me find a local hotel as I traveled from Maine. These folks made my transition from psychiatric nursing to emergency nursing that much easier. I might travel several states away again just to complete PALS. Thank you!”

What makes us unique is the quality of our instructors who are still practicing at the bedside, including ED Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists in Critical Care, Critical Care Nurses, Respiratory Therapists, Paramedics and PACU Nurses.

Our company’s mission is “by providers for providers.” We are most proud of the foundation we have to build to support our dream, and that foundation is our providers. As a whole, they have over a 100 years combined of healthcare experience and over 65 years of teaching American Heart Association classes. The instructors are some of the leading medical professionals in their field and have won numerous awards for their service to the healthcare community. As a team, in 2017 alone, we taught over 2800 students and feel like we are making a difference. We have taught students who used their knowledge from class to save lives in the community and have reached out to us to tell their story. After hearing their stories, we informed the AHA who honored these students with a Heartsaver Hero award.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We define success as creating a business that people want to come back to for additional education. We define our personal success as being proud that we provide a meaningful service that will leave the world a better place. This is the cornerstone for our company and what sparked the idea, helped us build from the ground up, and drives our passion to educate others of all backgrounds.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1245 Hancock St. Unit 5
  Quincy, MA 02169
• Website: www.aclsacademy.com
• Phone: 617-855-9947
• Email: info@aclsacademy.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aclsacademy/
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrentCompany=%5B%2216210439%22%5D&facetNetwork=%5B%22F%22%5D

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