Healing Hearts by Dr. Daniel and Penny Loosenort

In 1990 I was working in a large metropolitan hospital. I began to resent my job and working because of how much it interfered with raising our
daughters. My children at the time were 12, 10, and 8. The working situation was extremely stressful for me. Dan and I had to leave for work before the girls left for school. This left our twelve year old in charge of getting herself and her sisters on the bus. We both had to work weekends and that always poised a challenge for us in regards to child care. In addition to working at the hospital as a Respiratory Therapist I was also teaching CPR and 1st Aid to off-site locations for the occupational health department of the hospital. Soon I began to realize this was something I could do on my own. Realizing something had to change and I needed to use my medical skills to my advantage starting my own business seemed liked the answer. Healing Hearts CPR soon became a reality.

I have now owned and operated this company for 21 years. I started slowly with the determination that I would not take out any loans or debts to make this dream come true. I decided to rent training equipment until I had enough money to purchase my own. I obtained my customers by the grueling process of cold calls and one by one the business began to take shape. Scheduling trainings was of the utmost importance because if I was going to leave my good paying medical job to work on my own it was going to benefit my family. I only scheduled work for when the girls were in school. This proved beneficial due to the fact that most businesses schedule training employees around the school schedule, so as to avoid vacation issues with employees.

Times began to change so I grew with those changes. Accommodating my customers by meeting their needs and serving them well was critical. The 2000’s hit and AED’s came on the scene. In addition to offering trainings in CPR, AED, 1st Aid, Bloodborne Pathogens and Oxygen Administration I also sell AED’s, 1st Aid kits, CPR masks and other durable medical equipment (DME). I purchase medical products from a few different distributors in efforts to offer my customers the lowest price possible on products. Serving my clients in this aspect has been a great benefit and has established a long term customer base. The vast majority of my customers have been with me for all twenty years of business.

Tips and advice:

• If you are going to start up a business pick something you are already skilled and familiar with.
• Make sure start – up costs are low and within your budget.
• Try not to take on any debt. Healing Hearts CPR has never been in debt. The only debt I ever carried was a vehicle payment.
• Make sure that it is flexible enough and does not interfere with your family.

I will share a cute story with you. During Halloween I would dissemble my manikins and put them in my daughter’s beds. Now you must understand the girls were very accustom to seeing these manikins dissembled because I had to do this to clean them after each training session I taught. However; they would still “freak out” when they climbed into bed and manikin parts greeted them. We have also been known to take the manikins for boat rides on our lake, dressing them up to look like humans.

I am truly convinced if I was able to start a small business and maintain the business debt free for twenty years, the sky is the limit for any woman who has a heart to pursue a dream. I also believe that same woman can fulfill that dream as large or as small as she chooses, allowing her to focus on her family first.

In 2009 my husband retired early due to his place of employment closing. From the day he retired and every day since he became my business partner and goes to work with me. Dan has truly been support of Healing Hearts CPR and has pitched right in. He drives me to class locations, unloads and loads my equipment and does whatever I ask of him. Dan is an asset and is a great promoter of AED’s. I can say since he has joined forces with me, we have sold more AED’s.

In addition to Healing Hearts CPR my husband and I are the co-founders of Light Dawns Ministries (Pastoral Biblical Counseling). Together we have also co-authored a book titled, WE PROMISE ~ 18 Foundational Stones for an Unshakeable Marriage. *We Promise ~ 18 Foundational Stones for an Unshakeable Marriage* ~ by Penny Loosenort available now at : Tate Publishing<http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781617777776>
ISBN: 978-1-61777-777-6 or a bookstore near you, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

WE PROMISE ~ Book Trailer<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RwjEBmaS7Q&feature=colike>
Light Dawns Ministries <http://www.lightdawns.org/>
Blog: Penny Points <http://www.pennypoints.blogspot.com/>
Dan & Penny on FB<http://www.facebook.com/people/Penny-Daniel-Loosenort/1303872131>

WE PROMISE on FB <http://www.facebook.com/loosenort>
FOX NEWS INTERVIEW<http://www.fox17online.com/videobeta/bd593217-a30d-4677-8864-b53a4bf91d94/News/We-Promise-8-15-11>

CPR/AED/1ST AID/BBP/OXYGEN TRAINING: Healing Hearts
CPR<http://www.healingheartscpr.com/>

Submitted by by Dr. Daniel and Penny Loosenort