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Theresa May pledges to expand mental health ‘first aid’ training into primaries

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First Aid Training done right with Canberra First Aid. We offer great first aid training courses in CPR, asthma and anaphylaxis. 
Our first aid training courses are run at the Paklands Hotel in Dickson which offers excellent accommodation options and is 200 metres from the Dickson shopping precinct. 
The prime minister announces plans to teach children more about mental wellbeing

Theresa May has announced measures to provide every school with mental health first aid training and to teach children more about mental wellbeing.

The plan builds on a proposal announced in January to make mental health first aid training available to all secondary schools, with the aim of having trained at least one teacher in every secondary school by 2019.

The prime minister also wants to provide each school with a single point of contact with mental health services, and to include more in the curriculum about mental wellbeing, particularly in relation to keeping safe online and cyber bullying.

The plans are part of a wider package of reforms that would tear up the Mental Health Act and replace it with new legislation aimed largely at reducing the number of vulnerable people detained in prison cells.

Mrs May said: “We are going to roll out mental health support to every school in the country, ensure that mental health is taken far more seriously in the workplace, and raise standards of care with 10,000 more mental health professionals working in the NHS by 2020.

“These reforms are a vital part of my plan to build a fairer society for all, not just the privileged few, and they demonstrate the positive difference that strong and stable leadership makes.”

‘Empty rhetoric’

But Liberal Democrat former health minister Norman Lamb dismissed the promises as “empty rhetoric”.

Mr Lamb told the Press Association: “I’m sick and tired of great rhetoric from this government about their commitment to mental health but the reality for families across our country is just so very different,”

“Let’s just make them make the investment that they committed to in 2015 in our children’s mental health services.”

The Tories have made it clear that they are not prepared to invest any more from additional taxation, he added.

Speaking this morning on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the proposals would prevent children with mental health problems “ending up in police cells”.

He said: “There is a lot of new money coming in to it – £1 billion.” This amount was announced in January. Asked whether it was new money, Mr Hunt stated: “It’s new money going into the NHS that’s going into mental health.”

Several surveys have shown that many schools struggle to refer pupils to NHS mental health services. More than half of school leaders said they found it hard to locate services for pupils with mental health problems, according to a survey by the NAHT heads’ union and the children’s mental health charity Place2Be in February.

Last week, a cross-party group of MPs found that school funding cuts were harming pupils’ mental health.

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How Bad Are White-Tailed Spider Bites, Really?

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First Aid Course in Canberra will give you the skills and first aid training to save a family or friends life. We would like to thank everyone who has participated in a first aid course with our company and we look forward to training you again in the future.

Recent news reports that a man had both his legs amputated after being bitten by a white-tailed spider have again cast this spider in a negative light. Experts have since said amputations may have been wrongly blamed on a spider bite, and authorities now consider a bacterial infection to be responsible for the man’s injuries. Despite this, the damage to the largely harmless white-tail may have been done.

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

The venom from the white-tailed spider is listed as non-lethal. It has not been shown to cause necrotic ulcers, which could result in the need for amputation. And there has never been any clear evidence necrotising arachnidism – the name give to a syndrome where the skin blisters and ulcerates following spider bites – has been seen in Australia.

There is currently no clinical test to determine if you have been bitten by a spider. And there is no blood or swab test that can be performed to positively identify what spider it is if a bite is suspected. Whether it is a bite from a spider or another insect, the management is the same – most will get better without any medical treatment.

Spiders In Australia

The majority of spiders in Australia are voracious predators of insects. For the most part, they play a useful role in lowering insect numbers.

The venom transmitted through bites of some Australian spiders can cause harm to humans and even be life-threatening. The better known of these are the redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), and the funnel-web spiders (genera Atrax and Hadronyche). Antivenom is available for both spiders.

Redback spider venom can cause a lot of pain. Advice would be to go to hospital if pain lasts for longer than a few hours and simple pain relief is not helping. Funnel-web spider venom can cause local swelling in addition to increasing heartbeat, salivation, muscle spasms and respiratory distress (trouble breathing).

Without appropriate first aid, quick access to hospital and antivenom, these bites can be lethal. For the “big black hairy” funnel-webs, appropriate first aid needs to be applied and it is advisable to call 000.

The White-Tailed Spider

White-tailed spiders (Lampona sp.) can be recognised by their cylindrical body shape and a white or grey spot on the end of their abdomen. They are found in eastern and most southern areas of Australia and New Zealand.

These spiders are active hunters, preying on other types of spiders and insects. They may transiently roam inside houses, especially in warmer weather, where they may be found in bedding or clothing that has been left on the floor.

One study of over 70 spider bite cases in which white-tailed spiders were identified showed patients experienced only a mild localised reaction, such as swelling, local pain or headache. To date clinical research has not been able to associate tissue loss with the venom of these spider bites.

Flesh-Eating Bacteria

The man at the centre of the recent story linking amputations to a white-tail spider bite was said to have a “flesh eating” infection. But there is a very low probability of an association between spiders and necrotisisng fasciitis (commonly known as flesh-eating disease).

Of course, any injury that causes a break in our skin leaves the capacity for bacteria to enter our body. Therefore be sure to keep an injury area clean. Questions have been raised as to the possibility of a spider introducing infections, but again, despite it being theoretically possible, it is unlikely.

Contributing factors to infection are if people have conditions such as diabetes or take medications, such as steroids like prednisolone, that lessen the body’s ability to fight infection.

How To Prevent Spider Bites

  • Leave them alone
  • wear gloves if gardening
  • humanely remove spiders from your home and limit hiding spaces where possible inside the home
  • knock out shoes before putting them on; these are nice quiet homes for spiders.

For first aid after a spider bite, please see the Australian guidelines. Many bites don’t result in envenoming and death is very rare, so it is important to remain calm. But seek medical attention if there are concerning symptoms such as those described above: difficulty breathing, increased heartbeat and pain lasting longer than an hour.

Read more at https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/04/how-bad-are-white-tailed-spider-bites-really/#YM54eelTf7RxjhSi.99

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St John urges all parents be first aid ready

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First Aid Course Canberra is looking to also let everyone in Canberra know that first aid courses are the best way to save lives. Book in to a first aid course with us now at Canberra First Aid and Training.

Would you know what to do if your child burnt their arm, ingested chemicals, or had an asthma attack? Would you know what to do if they couldn’t breathe?

St John (NSW) is urging parents across the state to make sure they know first aid. One in four parents are reportedly confident in their ability to perform CPR on a child – a statistic that needs to change, according to St John (NSW).

Joshua Clark is a St John (NSW) trainer and father to an eight-month-old, and says the figure was alarming but not surprising.

“It can take just a second for something to happen to a child, not matter how closely you’re watching them. What matters is that you know how to react if your child gets injured, because those first few minutes can be absolutely vital,” said Joshua.

“If you don’t know what to do, you can’t help them. Especially with children, acting quickly and giving them the right care can make all the difference.”

“I’d recommend everyone do a first aid course with St John. It’ll help you know to handle a range of situations – from minor bumps and bruises to potentially life-threatening situations.”

St John (NSW) says common childhood injuries include poisoning, choking, falling and burns. Knowing what to do in the event of an injury or illness is vital. That could include knowing when to call for emergency medical help, how to handle a choking incident, or how to apply a sterile bandage.

Anyone who has a child in their care for extended periods of time should know basic first aid. There are courses available that are specific to common childhood injuries.

St John (NSW) runs the one-day Caring For Kids course which covers a range of injuries including resuscitation of an infant or child, bleeding, choking, and poisoning. The course is run in both metropolitan and regional training centres across NSW.

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Nominate a Shoalhaven resident for Rotary NSW Emergency Services Community Award

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Great to see other first aid courses and their ideas are similar to ours. Our first aid courses Canberra are great and we offer a discount rate for those who are looking for the best first aid course going n Canberra. 
Nicolette Pickard


TRAINING: Dr Peter Taylor has trained hundreds of Marine Rescue volunteers in first aid and is a regional First Aid Trainer and Assessor. He took a moulage (injury makeup as pictured) course and now delivers first aid training in a realistic way. After taking a moulage (injury makeup) course, Peter has seen many changes in the way first aid is taught and delivered. “Our team makes casualties up as realistically as possible now so the people who do our first aid courses experience how it’s going to be in a real life situation,” Peter said.

Dr Peter Taylor’s dedication to volunteering, including Marine Rescue NSW, earned him a prestigious award in 2016 – Marine Rescue NSW Officer of the Year.

The Greenwell Point resident is now encouraging others to nominate someone they think is worthy of a similar Rotary NSW Emergency Services Community Award.

Now in their third year, the awards are an initiative of the Rotary Districts and Clubs of NSW to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of emergency services personnel across the state.

The awards are open to all emergency services personnel from the six official NSW emergency services agencies, including Fire and Rescue NSW, Marine Rescue NSW, NSW Ambulance, NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW State Emergency Service and NSW Volunteer Rescue Association.

Peter has been involved in volunteer work for more than 40 years.

He first volunteered with the SES in Rockhampton in the mid 1970s and was the SES volunteer medical officer for seven years.

After moving to Greenwell Point in 1998, Peter became involved with Marine Rescue, taking on many roles from rescue Coxswain to First Aid Trainer.

Since then, he has trained hundreds of Marine Rescue volunteers in first aid and is a regional First Aid Trainer and Assessor.

“While I may have received this award, none of us could do it without our supportive partners.– Peter Taylor

After taking a moulage (injury makeup) course, Peter has seen many changes in the way first aid is taught and delivered.

“Our team makes casualties up as realistically as possible now so the people who do our first aid courses experience how it’s going to be in a real life situation,” Peter said.

“We even teach our first aid casualties to groan and act as realistically as possible.

“During the very first course we ran one of the neighbours called the cops because they saw someone staggering around bleeding and groaning – the neighbours know now.”

At 74 years of age Peter said his joints are slowing him down now but he spent many years going to sea with Marine Rescue.

While he’s had some hairy times at sea, there’s always been someone there to support him on return – his wife Helen.

“While I may have received this award, none of us could do it without our supportive partners,” Peter said.

“They’re always there, worrying and waiting for you to get home safely.”

Peter also credited the radio operators for their crucial efforts in all rescues.

The humble award recipient said receiving the Rotary honour in 2016 was a win for the entire Shoalhaven Unit.

“My award reflects on my Unit, without those people who I’ve been associated with over 18 years, I couldn’t have done the things I’ve done,” he said.

“Marine rescue is out there in the middle of a storm and no-one sees the work that’s being done. You get back and you’re cold and you’re tired, but it’s also dangerous and phenomenally exciting.– Peter Taylor

“When you’re in Marine Rescue you are, to some degree, invisible.

“Marine rescue is out there in the middle of a storm and no-one sees the work that’s being done. You get back and you’re cold and you’re tired, but it’s also dangerous and phenomenally exciting.”

“If you want to have a crack at something for the community, don’t forget Marine Rescue.”

With award nominations now open, Peter encourages everyone to look at people in the emergency services who have gone beyond the call of duty, both in and outside their Units.

Peter himself is also involved with Greenwell Point Men’s Shed, Chairs the Greenwell Point Memorial Community Hall Committee and is an Ambassador for the Rotary supported DreamCricket program, which gives children with any form of disability the opportunity to use cricket based activities to build skills and self-confidence.

Members of the public and emergency services workers are encouraged to submit online nominations for the Awards. Nominations close on Friday, May 19.

A panel of independent judges will assess nominees on three key criteria; community service above and beyond the call of normal duties, which best exemplifies Rotary’s motto of ‘Service Above Self’, personal attributes and contribution to their organisation.

Funds raised through the awards support the Australian Rotary Health PhD Research Scholarship into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in emergency services personnel.

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Shire pools to get defibrillators

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First aid is vital in the community and adding defibrillators is an excellent strategy for local pools. Doing a first aid course is also very important so that you can learn all of the first aid skills, first aid techniques and first aid procedures to follow when you turn up to a first aid emergency.
Liam Warren

After the events of the of the MS Mega Swim event in March the communities call for a defibrillator have been answered.

The machines will be available to other council services and events when not in use during the off season at the Leeton and Whitton pools.

At the Mega Swim event a young women fell ill needed immediate first aid, which was provided for her however after it came to light their was no defibrillator at the pool their was an outcry from the community.

At the time council general manager Jackie Kruger said “ it would not have been appropriate to use one in that particular situation.” but said council will look into the option of purchasing one

At the April council meeting it was decided their would be two defibrillators, one each for the Whitton and Leeton pool.

Ordinarily the cost of the defibrillators would have been sourced from the council’s pool funds, however council was recently were told they have been announced as the StateCover Mutual’s Riverina winner of $5000 in the “Let’s Get SMARTer” promotion.

The promotion is available to council to invest in any workplace health and safety or injury management system of their choosing.

The council staff have been able to source defibrillator devices at a heavily discounted price of $2300 each.

According to the staff members the package will include replacements for batteries and electrode pads used over a 7-year period, all listed accessories and an online training session for pool staff.

While it may not be a requirement of the NSW Water Safety Practice Note, which is the guide for pool operations of public swimming pools in NSW, many public pools in NSW have access to a defibrillator in the case of drownings or other emergencies.

Councillor Paul Smith put forward the idea of the machines being available to other council services and events when not in use during the off season at the Leeton and Whitton pools which was agreed to by the rest of council.

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Shark attack: ’I remember watching the shark through my blood’

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 Book in to a first aid course today. We need all of the help we can get at the moment and especially when a first aid situation occurs like this. Its amazing how this guy survived. If hs friend didnt do a first aid course there is no doubt he wouldnt be here today. Book in to one of ou first aid courses now.
MAY 7, 201711:13AM

Shark survivor

Debbie Schippnews.com.au@debbieschipp

 

THE image is etched into Glenn Dickson’s brain.

It’s the moment a spearfishing trip with mates turned to horror as a 3.5 metre bull shark attacked.

“I felt a massive pull and shake, and I knew I was being attacked,” Glenn tells 60 Minutes’ Peter Stefanovic in an exclusive interview airing on Sunday night.

“It was kind of slow motion as I watched blood rise … the image is imprinted in my head … I remember watching the shark through my blood.”

It was February 18 this year and Glenn was in the water with three mates off Hichinbrook Island near Cairns in far north Queensland.

As he swam upwards after spearing a parrotfish, the shark struck.

He knew, he says, even as the shark turned away it was going to come back.

As he half-scrambled, half-swam to climb a rocky outcrop, the monster hit again.

Metres away in their boat on the other side of the rock, mate and former Navy master diver Rick Bettua heard a muffled scream.

Rick, Peter Kosica and Aaron Butler knew before they looked what had happened: less than a minute earlier Peter had emerged form the water having seen the huge shark, but they were briefly separated from Glenn.

What they was horrific. “The water was bright red and he was trying to climb his way up a rock face,” Rick says.

“His body was moving the way a body shouldn’t move. The shark was shaking him.”

Time may have slowed down for Glenn, but his three mates knew there was not a second to lose.

Hauling him into the boat, their worst fear was “that he was a goner from the waist down”.

They remember he was white, drained of all colour, … and strangely, almost smiling.

“YOU’RE NOT DYING TODAY”

Glenn knew he was in deep, deep trouble.

He remembers being punched in the chest as Rick, calling on three decades of weekly medical training, desperately made him respond — open his eyes, focus.

“You have to go back to your family,” Rick said.

“You’re not dying today.”

He should have. The femoral artery is a large artery in the thigh which is the main blood supply to the lower limb. Rupture it and you can bleed out in as little as three minutes.

Glenn’s three mates tell 60 Minutes of the frantic efforts to save him.

They were 40km from land in a small boat. Another 180km from the nearest hospital.

Along the way, Glenn “died” six times, Rick estimates. It came down to seconds.

“He had a 360 degree cut around his thigh, and every artery severed,” Rick says. There was another massive gash on his calf.

“It came down to seconds,” Rick says, remembering applying the first tourniquet, which did nothing to stem the flow or bring colour back into his mate. With the second tourniquet he coughed and screamed.

“I could have gone to sleep,” Glenn says. “I remember having the choice.” He also recalls Rick saying “can you feel the pain?” and focusing on his breathing, the pain, staying awake.

“I got colder and colder all the way up my body … my breath started getting shorter,” he says.

He thought about his family. That got him through.

Peter pushed the boat to its limits as they sped towards land, and Aaron, when they finally got into phone range, rang triple-0.

His words: “He’s not in a good way, he’s not in a good way,” interspersed with apologies for yelling, taken from the taped triple-0 call, show the desperation of the men.

SURVIVA.L

Even with the marina in sight they still thought they’d lost him.

A lone paramedic joined the rescue effort until the rescue chopper arrived.

Four hours later, the pain killers had well and truly kicked in. As they wheeled him from the chopper into Cairns hospital, Glenn can be heard yelling “I will survive”. The song, he says, just popped into his head.

Meanwhile, Glenn’s fiancee Jessie-Lee, mum to their young son and daughter, thought she’d lost him.

“I didn’t want to go near him … it frightened me,” she says of seeing him at the hospital.

“He told me he will survive and asked me for a kiss.” Glenn says he didn’t know if it would be their last.

They amputated his leg the next day. He says it was fine, in exchange for his life.

Two months on, 60 Minutes reveals there are more battles ahead.

Rehabilitation has begun. Centrelink’s rejection of a disability pension was “a kick in the guts” but again, his mates have stepped up. He’s determined to walk again, to take Jessie-Lee down the aisle.

“Everything I took for granted now I have a moment and think: “I’m lucky to be able to do this again,” he says. “So life’s great”.

60 Minutes airs at 8.30pm on Sunday on Channel 9

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This mum can’t stress enough the importance of knowing first aid

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Another girl saved due to her mum attending a first aid course. Well Done. It only takes one day of your time to complete a first aid course and you will be grateful forever when you use the skills learnt. Book yourself into a first aid training session now so that you don’t regret it.

 

“TODAY we nearly lost Grace …” Kerry can’t say those words without trembling at the unbearable thought of what could have been.

“One minute it was just a normal morning – the next it was almost forever changed,’ the mum-of-three says when retelling the horror that was Wednesday.

“Grace isn’t allowed hard lollies. We cut her grapes in half because we are careful of choking hazards and we make sure to remind her to chew before she swallows. We’ve never had a problem before today.”

Yet the day in question nearly ended the four-year-old girl’s life from that very hazard.

Grace asked her mother for one of her 16-year-old sister’s eucalyptus lollies.

“I explained she couldn’t as she could choke and she had to wait until she was a bit bigger. I said she could taste a shard that had broken off in the bag instead,” her mum says.

Grace thought that meant she could have one and popped a lolly in her mouth.

“Next thing I knew she followed me into the lounge room clutching at her throat – the lolly had lodged in her airways and she couldn’t get any air in or out. She had a complete obstruction. I called to her older sister Tahya who immediately rang an ambulance,” Kerry says.

“I encouraged Gracie to stay calm and try to cough as hard as she could while I held her over my lap with one knee dropped with her face down on an angle and I thumped her hard five times on the back. I then turned her over and did chest thrusts and kept repeating the same steps.”

It was at this point that Kerry thought she had lost her little girl forever.

“I told her we could fix it but she lost consciousness and turned blue. So I turned her back over to her stomach and hit her back hard again one more time when she suddenly took a rattly intake of air and started to turn purple.  As she got some air back in and was taking rattly breathes she then coughed and swallowed and started to recover,” she explains to Kidspot.

“She was nearly in heaven but then she started to cry – she didn’t want to leave us. Tahya was praying out loud while she was on the phone to emergency services until the ambulance arrived and both of us almost collapsed in relief.”

After a short stint in hospital to check her vital signs and have a chest X-ray, Grace went back home as her “happy and joyful” self again.

“We are grateful more than words can express that we are blessed enough to have her come back from that horrible brink – something so simple, something you don’t expect,” Kerry says.

“They told Gracie I had saved her life but it was a group effort with Tahya staying calm and relaying all the information to emergency services and supporting us, leaving me able to render first aid to Grace.”

Kerry says learning what to do in an emergency choking situation while she was doing a first aid course just before Grace was born really helped her during the shocking ordeal.

“I want people to be aware that even as kids get older, choking is still a very real risk and it’s important to update your first aid training. And to also make sure hard round lollies are out of reach from temptation,” she says.

“I’m just so glad to be able to share this as a near-miss to warn others and not as a mummy whose world just ended.”

Signs and symptoms of choking:

  • clutching the throat
  • coughing, wheezing, gagging
  • difficulty breathing, speaking, swallowing
  • making a whistling or ‘crowing’ noise or no sound at all
  • face, neck, lips, ears, fingernails turning blue

What to do if someone is choking:

1. Encourage the adult or child to cough to remove the object

2. Call triple zero (000) if coughing does not remove the blockage,
or if patient is an infant

3. Bend the patient well forward and give up to five back blows with the heel of one hand between the shoulder blades, checking if the object is relieved after each back blow

4. If unsuccessful, give up to five chest thrusts by placing one hand in the middle of patient’s back for support and heel of other hand in the CPR compression position, checking if the object is relieved after each chest thrust

5. If blockage does not clear continue alternating five back blows with five chest thrusts until medical aid arrives.

If the patient becomes unconscious:

  • Call triple zero (000) for an ambulance
  • Remove any visible obstructions from the mouth
  • Commence CPR.

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ESA explores ‘mental health first aid training’ with new welfare manager

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A very good idea for first aid training is the introduction of mental health first aid training. Canberra First Aid are looking into being able to provide mental health first aid training. Keep an eye on us.

A new welfare manager is looking at “mental health first aid training” for Canberra’s paramedics and firefighters.

In committee hearings on Tuesday, ACT ESA Commissioner Dominic Lane said the manager would lead a new mental health package over 2017.

“What the new package will do it tie together a few things,” Mr Lane said.

“We hope to rollout the next stage of our peer support program, which is looking at mental health first aid, and the main thing of course is the recent employment in the welfare program means we will have someone in ESA who will focus directly on this part.”

Mental health first aid programs run similar to physical first aid courses, but teach people how to deal with mental health circumstances until they find professional help.

Courses in mental health aid aim to teach skills in recognising the signs and symptoms of mental health problems, risk factors for these problems and how to deal with a crisis situation involving suicidal behaviour, panic attack, stress to trauma, overdose or threatening psychotic behaviour.

 

Mr Lane said while all emergency services were vulnerable to mental health issues due to their traumatic work, the new welfare manager will focus on long-time staff members who had developed issues over time but may not have sought help.

“The data we are seeing is that people are feeling cumulative affects of stress and trauma from many years in the role,” he said.

He said the new project would formalise some of the ongoing mental health training already provided.

ACT Emergency Services Minister Mick Gentleman welcomed the new management position and welfare package.

“We are looking at how we can provide as much welfare support as we can,” Mr Gentleman said.

“They are at that frontline, they do see trauma in their day-to-day-life and it is important we can support them through those processes.

A study by the University of New South Wales estimated around one in ten emergency workers suffer from PTSD, although rates are likely to be higher if retired workers are considered.

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Trio band together to save a life

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The CPR training you receive in a CPR course with us at Canberra First Aid is worth its wait in gold when this happens. You will be prepared to save a life.
It is very easy to book in to a CPR course with us and it will only take 2 hours of your time and cost $60. Book in to a CPR course today.
Ron Arel

Mark Jennings’ day was unlike any other normal day working on site for Telstra at Milbrae in Leeton repairing a fault.

Office manager Judy Johnston was making preparations to finalize business for the day.

She went outside to let Mr Jennings know that they were going to lock up for the day.

“I turned around and said to her that I’d fixed it and that’s when I fell on the ground,” Mr Jennings said.

“We were talking quite naturally and then he just fell to the ground,” Mrs Johnston said.

After calling out to Mr Jennings without a response, Mrs Johnston snapped to action and called for help.

Mr Butler and Mr Valdivia heard the cry for help and came running.

“We’d listened to him breathing,” Mr Butler said.

“All of a sudden he just stopped breathing.

“He turned blue around his lips, we checked his pulse and he had no pulse.”

Mr Butler and Mr Valdivia started CPR while Mrs Johnston called triple-0.

Within a few minutes the pair were able to revive Mr Jennings and he regained consciousness before the ambulance arrived.

“I came to with her and two blokes over the top of me,” Mr Jennings said, not fully aware at the time what had occurred.

”It was a really good team effort,” Mr Butler said.

“While I was doing CPR I looked over my shoulder and Judy already had rung triple-0.”

The duo had only recently completed a refresher course on CPR through work.

Everyone was glad they were on hand, trained and ready to act.

Having taken the training courses multiple times, the duo remembered discussing using the training with the instructor.

“I said here we go again, when am I going to use this,” Mr Valdivia said.

Their instructor mentioned that in all the years he’d been teaching the courses, he’d never actually had to put it to use.

“With the team we had in place, with Judy and Al, everything just fell into place,” said Mr Butler.

In addition to first aid and CPR training, everyone recommended loading the Emergency + smartphone app on their smartphones.

The application is designed to provide the information you need to get help to a location quickly.

It can dial triple-0 directly from the app and provides your location to be able to give to emergency personnel in both a street address or GPS coordinates.

Fortunately for Mr Jennings, the right people were on hand to offer first aid immediately and saved his life and show how important it is to be trained to perform CPR.

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Why Every Parent Should Know Enough First Aid To Save A Child

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First aid is a vital skill to have and being able to save someones life is something you will never forget. Our first aid courses are designed to help you feel ready to deal with an emergency situation. We don’t bore you with a long day of dull power point presentations we make sure that you are moving and practicing the first aid skills.

 

As a first responder — and as any of my professional paramedic friends will say — there’s nothing worse than attending a drowning incident involving a child and finding people standing around panicking and unsure of what to do.

With the prevalence of backyard pools in Australia and our love of the water, it’s an all too common scenario. To know that there was a chance to save that child’s life if only someone had even attempted CPR is just awful.

People panic — we get that — but first responders are human too and any incident involving a child really hits you emotionally.

Even rudimentary first aid skills could make all the difference in a drowning situation. Especially involving kids. Because with quick intervention — a drowning child has got a better chance of making it than adults do.

Statistics show that injuries and accidents are the leading cause of death in children aged 1-14 — and boys make up two thirds of that number.

Yet 40 percent of parents say they wouldn’t be confident in knowing what to do if their child — or another child or adult — were drowning and 25 percent say they wouldn’t be confident in administering CPR to a child.

I’m a parent to two kids myself and I can’t imagine any worse feeling in an emergency situation involving a child, than looking back and thinking “I wish I’d known what to do or I wish I’d done that first aid course I kept saying I’d do”.

 

A fairly minor accident I witnessed has always stayed with me. I saw a boy running around the edge of a swimming pool — in what seemed like slow motion, he slipped and bashed his face resulting in quite a nasty cut in his mouth.

Those kind of injuries tend to bleed a lot but aren’t necessarily serious. What really struck me was that his mum had no idea what to do and she went into shock herself because of the panic. She was screaming and crying and it was actually making her son worse.

Of course, it’s understandable. No parent can stand to see their child hurt or in pain, but if the Mum had a bit of an idea what to do she would’ve felt so much better because she had the skills to help her son.

Everyone’s busy, but in the critical moment where even a bit of first aid knowledge could save a life, I think most parents would rather be able to say they’d done all they could to prepare.

The stats say that around 50 percent of parents say they don’t have any first aid knowledge at all or wouldn’t know how to treat certain injuries.

The most common injury incidents involving kids under 15 — after car accidents — would be sporting related or falls especially from trampolines or bikes, scooters or skateboards. These often result in concussions, sprains and fractures.

Most people know what to do to stem bleeding, but I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen a big icepack dumped on top of a break or fracture which can actually cause more pain and damage because of the pressure.

People see swelling and immediately think ice but it’s not always the right thing to do. Just even knowing a bit about assessing injuries is helpful.

Other injuries or issues we’d most commonly see affecting kids are usually to do with burns, poisoning, choking, asthma or anaphylaxis attacks.I think having a broad range of first aid skills particularly those that cover off issues most likely to affect kids is a good place to start but even only knowing something about CPR is useful.

St John Ambulance WA offers a specific nationally accredited CPR course where you can come in for half a day and train in the recovery position and basic CPR. We also run Caring For Kids courses during school hours which covers all the major first aid components, including CPR, then if you want, you can go into more advanced training too.

First aid knowledge can go such a long way in making a bad situation less awful. I think of having first aid skills, especially as a parent, as like a type of insurance on your child.

Of course they’ll help if the worst happens — and hopefully you’ll never need them — but the peace of mind is priceless too.

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