![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/08\/Mitch-headshot-2023-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nA friend had fallen on a beer bottle at a party, slicing tendons and puncturing an artery. Amid the bloody scene, Cynamon \u201901 stayed calm and acted fast, summoning an ambulance and helping his friend get care that, as doctors later told him, likely saved his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a moment that underscored the \u201cbe prepared\u201d credo instilled in Cynamon by his father, a former EMT and the owner of a safety equipment business. Years earlier, when his uncle had a seizure at a family event, Cynamon remembers his dad taking control of the situation \u2014 and expecting his then-teenage son to step up too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI froze up at first,\u201d he says. \u201cBut my dad\u2019s reaction and [his ability] to manage a crisis stayed with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together, the experiences inspired Cynamon to pursue EMT training after college while starting his career in the hospitality world. He went on to spend nearly a decade working in purchasing and operations for some of New York City\u2019s top restaurants while moonlighting as a CPR instructor, training everyone from restaurant employees to anxious new parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like helping people,\u201d he says. \u201cEven with my hospitality jobs, that\u2019s always been the throughline for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 2006 he had made safety his full-time job when he founded Initiate Care, a safety education firm that provides CPR and first-aid training with a focus on accessibility and flexibility. Originally designed to serve hospitality workers, the New York City\u2013based company offers on-demand instruction tailored to busy people and organizations. One memorable early session: a late-night, in-home training for a young lawyer and his friends, complete with wine and snacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople are used to the old-school model \u2014 three hours, a manual, and no real-world context,\u201d he says. \u201cWe try to make it a little more entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/08\/IMG_4848.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAs demand for his trainings grew, Cynamon began to see broader gaps in how lifesaving skills were taught \u2014 and who had access to them. In response he launched Safety Saints, a nonprofit spinoff of Initiate Care, during the pandemic. Its mission: to bring CPR and first-aid education to underserved communities through flexible training tailored to each community\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of people use emergency services as their main doctor\u2019s office,\u201d Cynamon says. \u201cThat\u2019s the population we\u2019re trying to reach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today Safety Saints offers training across eight states and reaches nearly 3,000 people a year. The sessions range from CPR and first aid to food safety and workforce development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because Safety Saints focuses on serving vulnerable populations, it operates in places where ambulance response times are long, health care access is limited, and safety education is often out of reach. \u201cIt\u2019s like food deserts,\u201d Cynamon says. \u201cThese are education deserts. We want to fill that gap.\u201d Through community partnerships, Safety Saints offers free trainings to families, caregivers, and kids who might otherwise never learn how to respond in an emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What sets Safety Saints apart isn\u2019t just the reach, says Cynamon \u2014 it\u2019s also the delivery. Whether teaching young parents in their living rooms or restaurant staff after closing time, Cynamon hopes to bring humor and empathy to every session \u2014 along with a real-world understanding of how people react under pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe idea isn\u2019t necessarily that you\u2019d save the day,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the hope is that if something happens, you at least have some education. You\u2019d know whether it\u2019s an ambulance moment or not. You\u2019d know little things to help move the situation forward. That alone can change the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His belief in the power of preparation \u2014 and its potential to save lives \u2014 is part of what keeps Cynamon going. \u201cMaking lifesaving training available to everyone who needs it \u2014 that\u2019s the goal,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s ambitious, but I\u2019ve got some time. I\u2019m going to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/08\/IMG_7927-1024x769.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mitch Cynamon \u201901 launched a nonprofit to bring CPR and first-aid education to underserved communities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1279,"featured_media":18625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[354,2962,682,1910,3057],"coauthors":[1720],"class_list":["post-18128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-alumni","tag-emergency-responder","tag-hospitality","tag-safety","tag-safety-education"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-4Io","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/08\/MitchHeadshot_optimized.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1279"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18128"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18268,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18128\/revisions\/18268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18128"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}