• Cooling burns with water for 20 min lowers ICU admission likelihood by 48 per cent
• Cool the burn for more than 40 can be detrimental and cause hypothermia
• Cooling first aid limits energy flow in the affected region and reduces cell damage

RUNNING cool water over an acute burn for 20 minutes within the first three hours of injury is still the best method for first aid prior to hospital admission, a West Australian-based study has found.

The research highlights the significant effect pre-hospital first aid has on a burns patient’s need for surgical intervention, length of stay and Intensive Care Unit admission.

The cohort study, led by UWA and Fiona Stanley hospital specialists, took into account 2320 cases of burns recorded through the Burn Registry of Australia and New Zealand (BRANZ) between 2009 and 2012.

They found 68 per cent of patients cooled their injury before they were admitted to a burns centre, with 46 per cent of respondents using the method for at least 20 minutes.

When burns sufferers applied cool water for 20 minutes, the probability of them requiring graft surgery dropped by 13 per cent, while the same treatment resulted in a 48 per cent reduction in people needing ICU admission.

Water cooling also reduced average hospital stays by more than two days.

However, the data found cooling for more than 40 minutes did not have a significantly positive effect on the burns sufferer.

In fact, it proved to be detrimental, likely causing negative effects such as hypothermia.

Treating burns

“Last year around 650 people in WA needed in-hospital care for burns, while a whole lot more happened in the community,” lead author and prominent burns specialist Fiona Wood says.

“Over 50 per cent of the cases presenting to hospital have had some first aid.”

Dr Wood says no matter the severity, burns first aid treatment should start by cooling the burn and keeping the patient warm.

“Stay safe, remove the person from the problem, cool the burn area, warm and comfort the patient,” Dr Wood says.

“Cooling reduces the energy in the area so limiting the ongoing damage to the cells in the skin.

“We need to spread the word that [exposing the burn to] clean cool running water for 20 minutes can reduce the scar worn for life.”

Learn more about first aid and burns in one of our cheap first aid courses in Canberra. We run courses every week at the Dickson Tradies and make sure that you have all the basic training techniques in first aid. 

An author from Lake Macquarie in New South Wales is using her experience as a paramedic as the foundation for a new children’s book series.

Rachael Woolley, 43, has lived all around the world and visited most continents over her lifetime.

However, she has always called Warners Bay home. She has worked as an opera singer, florist, builder, carer and paramedic.

But it is her latest role — author of the Band Aid Betty’s First Aid Adventures series — that is one of her most exciting challenges.

From cruise ship to published author

The process for Ms Woolley’s Band Aid Betty character coming to reality in her first book, Mrs Daisy’s Singing in the Rain, started aboard a cruise ship when she was holidaying.

She attended a lecture on self-publishing and was inspired to turn her idea of teaching children about basic first aid into a book.

After using an online website that offered services to edit and illustrate books, the character was born, resplendent with red curly hair, funky jewellery and a curvy figure.

“I [had] wanted to write a book more about my life, because I’ve had such a full life, and I’ve been very fortunate in my life,” Ms Woolley said.

“In the character now, I see [it] being the autobiography I wanted it to be. So Band Aid Betty is going to get on a plane and go to Nepal and to India and China, and she’s going to say hello to everyone. She’s going to say hello in all the languages I speak.

“Whenever I travel and say hello to people, I connect with them, and that’s what I want Band Aid Betty to teach children to do — to connect with people.”

Ms Woolley had the book printed in Australia, and is now selling copies in order to fund her next book in the series, which will be about treating someone in anaphylactic shock.

Arming children with knowledge to stop bullying

Having seen a wide range of first aid incidents during her career as a paramedic, Ms Woolley wants children to be able to learn to care for others.

“I guaranteed that whatever patient I had, for whatever condition they had, I made sure that live or die, they wanted me to be the person holding their hand,” she said.

“They wanted to leave this world knowing who I was, because I would give them 100 per cent, if not more.

“I want to bring that out into a story book where children make other people feel important.

PHOTO: Ms Woolley self-published the Band Aid Betty book.(1233 ABC Newcastle: Robert Virtue)

“We live in a world where everyone is scared to touch each other, and they’re scared to help each other, they’re scared to smile, they’re scared to be around people.”

After joining the ambulance service in 2003, Ms Woolley said she endured years of bullying in the workplace.

She said it was the reason she left the service in late 2010.

Still carrying the experience in her memory, Ms Woolley said she wanted children to learn how to stand up against bullying.

“It was either be silent or violent. No one ever taught that middle ground. I want to be able to teach children what that middle ground is: have your rights, but do it respectfully,” she said.

“They almost crushed me, big time. There were moments where I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t go to work, and people just ignored it.

“My managers expected me to go back to work and be treated like that day-in, day-out.

“Then I had to go away and do courses to better myself because I was the silent person, I would keep my mouth shut.

“I had to learn what that middle ground was — to say ‘no’ to bullies and to be able to defend myself, and so I want other people to learn that.

“I want other people to learn to say no to horrible people, but do it respectfully, have their own rights heard.

“I want children to learn to defend themselves, and by parents reading this book to them when they’re little, or older, parents also will learn how to have rights but treat people respectfully.”

High hopes for future Band Aid Betty stories

With a whole range of story ideas yet to be explored, Ms Woolley said she hoped to write further Band Aid Betty books.

“Regardless of what’s happened in my life, for good or for bad, I feel like this is a new lease to life,” she said.

“It’s a new chapter in my life to become an author. It’s something you only dream about, like being a princess or something.

“It’s a character that I hope people are going to love, [that] it’s going to be like Humphrey B. Bear or Big Dog, that people are just going to remember it with comfort.

“So it’s not just going to be my book, it’s going to be their book as well.”

What an excellent idea. I cant believe there are not more children’s first aid books out on the market. Well done. We look forward to having more young people in our first aid courses in Canberra.

Peter Hannam
Published: March 7, 2016 – 12:52PM

Sydney is in the midst of a spider boom, with “perfect conditions” leading to more offspring than usual surviving and resulting in many plants and other objects being draped with silken webs, according to the Australian Museum.

David Bock, who manages the museum’s Search and Discovery section, said the warm, moist start to summer had triggered a surge in many insect numbers – such as moths and butterflies – which were now providing abundant food for spiders and other predators.

While female spiders often lay 50-100 eggs with only a few offspring surviving, many more were doing so, producing second and third generations in the season, Mr Bock said.

If the level of public inquiries are any guide, redbacks, huntsmen, golden orbs and St Andrews Cross spiders are in particular abundance.

“With the golden orb spiders, they can colonise whole trees,” Mr Bock said.

While all spiders have venom, few have any impact on humans, and the public should not be overly worried, he said.

“We might not appreciate the spiders but they are eating the other pests,” Mr Bock said, noting mosquitoes and cockroaches as among their favourite foods.

Record warmth rolls on

Meanwhile, Sydney’s record run of warm, dry weather shows little sign of breaking up.

The city on Monday passed 26 degrees for the 32nd day in a row, On the current forecasts, it will exceed that level for at least another six days – doubling the previous record stint of 19 such days.

If anything, temperatures and humidity will pick up this week, as a big blocking high pressure in the Tasman Sea keeps cold fronts at bay, Rob Sharpe, a meteorologist with Weatherzone, said.

“This week will probably be one of the warmest weeks of the past four months,” Mr Sharpe said.

Sydney can expect temperatures to nudge 30 degrees each day this week, with western suburbs likely to reach the low- to mid-30s.

A redback shot at Belmore on the weekend.

Peter McCarthy, a senior operations manager at pest controllers Rentokil, said it was currently a peak time for insects in Sydney.

While there has been “nothing drastically different” this year compared with a year ago, staff have been active.

“It’s the season for pests,” Mr McCarthy said. “It will come down to the end of this month – that’s when he’ll tell whether it’s unusual or not.”

A redback captured among children’s outdoor toys at West Ryde at the weekend.

If the insects like mild, dry conditions, then those times are likely to linger well into next week at least, Weatherzone’s Mr Sharpe said.

“We’ll probably see a cool change of some sort around Tuesday,” he said, adding that the temperature may only dip briefly below the 26-degree mark before warming up again.

Weatherzone is owned by Fairfax Media, publisher of this website.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/arachnopolis-now-perfect-conditions-prompt-a-boom-in-sydney-redbacks-huntsmen-and-golden-orbs-20160307-gnc3bz.html

Not only are spiders out and about in Sydney but Canberra also. Please make sure you have attended a cheap first aid course in Canberra so that you have gained the skills to treat any bites. At Canberra first aid we have very cheap first aid courses that cover all components of first aid.

It is a common sight to see a group of people curiously huddled around a crashed vehicle on a busy road, but nobody can be seen taking any substantial action to help the victim. Most accident witnesses remain clueless or have little knowledge of the steps to take in order to provide relief to the victim.

India has recorded one of the highest rates of road accidents in the world, making road safety a major cause of concern. Nearly 10% of the world’s road accidents occur in India with a fatality rate of 1,20,000 every year. These alarming statistics underline the importance of basic road safety awareness and also of life saving techniques.

According to WHO, most deaths occur outside healthcare facilities. Some of them are unavoidable on account of the severity of the initial injuries. Among the remainder, a considerable proportion could be avoided as is apparent from a comparison of the differences in mortality rates from trauma in different countries.

Lack of awareness and no basic knowledge of life saving techniques are major contributors in the apathy of pedestrians. The indecisiveness of bystanders and wastage of precious time can seriously endanger the victim’s life and drastically reduce his chances of survival.

Swift Action Can Save Lives:
The first aid in emergency situations involves techniques that enhance the preparedness and trigger immediate response to health emergencies. Evidence suggests that after a road crash or any other accident if life-saving measures are immediately applied by anyone on the accident site victims stand a greater chance of survival and also a reduction in the adverse consequences of their injuries. The victim needs to be stabilized before the arrival of emergency medical help, and here’s how you can do it:

1. Approach the victims in a calm and composed manner. Discourage other helping citizens from handling the victims in a brashly as this can cause further damage. Shift the patient away from oncoming traffic, broken glass, leaking car fluids or any other hazardous material.
2. Inform the nearest medical centre or police station.
3. Any victim with breathing difficulty, unconsciousness or damaged airway should be sent to the nearest hospital at the earliest – such victims should be given utmost care & greater priority over other victims.
4. Immobilize the cervical spine by using two wooden blocks on either side of the neck (do not disturb the spine and head by shaking them). Shaking the head & neck while shifting the victim may cause major damage and paralyze the patient completely.
5. Do not try to remove the helmet until the victim reaches the hospital.
6. Bleeding can be stemmed by applying continuous pressure to the open wound with a cloth, or tying the cloth gently around the injury.
7. Inspect the limbs of the victim for any fractures, broken bone or other damage while being careful to not apply any undue pressure or force. Secure the broken limb by tying a small stick to either side of the limb with a cloth.
8. If the victim is in shock or is pale, loosen any tight clothing and wrap a blanket around him. Rest his legs on a raised platform, or even on your knees.
9. Finally, make certain that the victim has a pulse until he reaches the nearest medical facility.

It is the moral responsibility of every citizen to offer help and rescue victims of any accident he or she happens to come across. Some basic awareness coupled with a calm demeanor can go a long way in helping a road accident victim and possibly saving his life.

By:Dr Sree Sowjanya 

This article from India is great to see with a massive growth in population and huge amounts of road accidents, even the most basic first aid skills will come in handy.

Michael Carayannis
Published: February 18, 2016 – 3:23PM

Players with suspected neck injuries may no longer be fitted with a neck brace in the NRL after a report stated the practice did not “outweigh harms such as increased pressure injuries”.

The NRL has made recommendation to club doctors after a guideline was handed down by the Australian Resuscitation Council, which stated “the use of semi-rigid cervical collars by first-aid providers is not recommended”.

In a report obtained by Fairfax Media, the use of the cervical collar does not “outweigh harms such as increased intracranial pressure, pressure injuries or pain and unnecessary movement that can occur with the fitting and application of a collar”.

Instead of the brace the council stated that “manual support of the head in a natural, neutral position, limiting the angular movement” should be undertaken. The report goes on to say that for “healthy adults padding under the head may optimise the neutral position”.

NRL chief medical officer Paul Bloomfield said while the use of neck braces was not banned, there is a push to move away from it.

“I wouldn’t call it a massive shift because the guidelines talk about not applying semi-rigid collars in the pre-hospital setting,” Bloomfield said. “It doesn’t say you can’t do it. It’s been in the workings for a year or so. The collar is a warning device and you can still move in the collar.

“It’s not the NRL’s guidelines, it’s the council’s guidelines. We are adopting the guidelines. In some cases there may be still some reasons to apply the collar correctly. As a general rule, they may not apply it.”

The first instance of the new guidelines in use was when Manly prop Jake Trbojevic was injured during the Auckland Nines. Whereas in the past he may have been fitted with a neck brace, his neck was instead given support by a trainer as he was taken from the field in a medicab. Spinal boards will still be used.

“You’ll see a trainer holding a player’s head,” Bloomfield said. “They hold their traps with their forearms on either side of the head. That locks their neck in line with the rest of their body.”

Chief medical officers at NRL clubs underwent a two-day course on managing trauma from cardiac arrests to neck and head trauma last November. Orange-shirt trainers at each club have also undergone a compulsory course as the NRL has this year implemented a concussion management course and a spinal management and advanced resuscitation course which is compulsory before any orange-shirt trainer steps onto the field.

They were also shown the new spinal injury treatment at the course earlier this year. “We have reviewed the guidelines,” Bloomfield said. “Everyone has been trained and knows about the guidelines from the doctors to the trainers.”

There has been many talks in Canberra first aid courses about the use of neck braces. Some very good positive points and some negative also. I feel there is always going to be debate in Canberra first aid courses and in all first aid courses around the world because all different sports are doing different ideas. 

Julie Power
Published: February 18, 2016 – 9:35AM

Being born in Asia protects Australian schoolchildren from nut allergies triggered by the local environment, the first and largest population study of its kind finds.

The study of 57,000 Australian schoolchildren in Victoria comes as Australia struggles with a growing epidemic of food allergies.

The new research finds Australian-born children with Asian mothers have higher rates of peanut and nut allergies than Asian-born children who migrate to Australia.

The study by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the University of Melbourne found being born in Asia seemed to be protective because these children were exposed to a different diet, and bacterial and UV environment.

The findings were exciting because they provided solid evidence that “there’s something in the environment that’s driving this allergic epidemic”, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute researcher Professor Katie Allen told ABC News.

Admissions to hospital in Australia due to anaphylactic shock have tripled over 13 years. They have increased more than sevenfold among children aged five to 14. Allergies to peanuts are the most persistent and dangerous allergies, with the highest lifetime risk for anaphylaxis.

The study also found children from urban areas – such as Melbourne, which has been dubbed the “allergy capital of the world” – are more likely to have a nut allergy than children from rural regions.

Nut allergies were also more common among children of mothers with higher education and socio-economic status. Some of this was attributed to higher reporting rates by parents who are more likely to seek help.

Researchers analysed the results of school entry health reports completed by the parents of 57,000 children, a report filled out by a parent or guardian about their child’s health and wellbeing at the beginning of primary school in Victoria.

Of the 57,000 respondents, 2892 parents reported a food allergy (5 per cent) and 1761 reported a nut allergy (3.1 per cent). While Australian-born children of Asian descent were more likely to have nut allergy than non-Asian children, children born in Asia who migrated to Australia were at decreased risk.

Professor Allen said that migration from Asia after the early-infant period appeared to be a protective factor against the development of nut allergy.

“We know there are rising rates of migration from East Asia to Australia,” she said.

“Our finding that migration from Asia to Australia after birth can protect against early onset allergic disease such as food allergy provides a potent clue for us to follow when trying to understand why food allergy is on the rise,” she said.

Removing children from the Asian environment, or conversely exposing them to environmental risk factors in our Western environment – such as diet changes, microbial and UV exposure – uncovered a genetically determined risk of food allergy in children of Asian descent.

Professor Allen said the overall presence of nut allergy in metropolitan Melbourne was 3.4 per cent, compared with 2.38 per cent in non-metropolitan areas.

“While the question still remains as to why allergy rates are on the rise, the urban-rural difference could be down to the hygiene hypothesis, which raises the possibility that our urban environment with less diverse microbial exposure may contribute to the rise in allergies,” Professor Allen said.

“It strongly suggests that early life environmental factors linked to the modern lifestyle play a key role in allergy development. Understanding these factors better will provide opportunities to intervene to prevent food allergy in the future.”

The analysis of the School Entrant Health Questionnaire also revealed that nut allergy was more commonly reported among children of mothers with higher education levels, and a high socio-economic index.

In the paper, published in Clinical and Experimental Allergy, the research team suggest that mothers with higher levels of education and income from urban areas were more likely to seek medical advice for a food reaction and therefore more likely to report a nut allergy in their child.

The study builds on more than a decade of leading allergy research by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. This is the first large, population-based study to show the prevalence of nut allergy, with data captured from the majority of children who began school in Victoria in 2010.

Previous research from the HealthNuts study found “unexpectedly high rates” of nut allergy in Melbourne.

As many as 3 per cent of one-year-old infants had a peanut allergy during medically supervised food challenges.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/australianborn-children-more-prone-to-allergies-than-those-born-in-asia-research-20160218-gmwzoy.html

Interesting study taking lace on allergies in young children and Australia being one of the worst places for these anaphylactic reactions. So what is causing this? Best you come to one of Canberras cheap First Aid course so that we can help you understand anaphylaxis and and how to use an epipen.

Kate Aubusson
Published: February 18, 2016 – 4:49PM

Emergency services hold grave fears for a man missing in dangerous surf off Sydney’s northern beaches.

A full scale search and rescue effort was underway as rescue helicopters, lifeguards and police scour the waters off Turimetta Beach near Warriewood Blowhole after witnesses reported seeing a swimmer in trouble at roughly 2pm.

The man was reportedly floating unconscious in the water off Turimetta, also known as Little Narrabeen beach.

The State Operations Centre was told that members of the public tried to rescue the man but were unable to reach him in the strong surf.

“A number of witnesses have reported that a male swimmer was seen to be floating on the surface of the surf and was seen to be hit by a dumping wave and hasn’t resurfaced,” Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter chief executive Stephen Leahy told AAP.

“Sadly, there’s no sign of that person now and every indication is, sadly, that this person is still missing.

“So, a very large search is underway considering that he’s only been missing a short time,” Mr Leahy said.

Lifesavers released sea marking dye into the turbulent surf to track the speed and current of ocean currents that could have carried the swimmers out to sea.

Mr Leahy said a NSW Ambulance helicopter, Pittwater Council lifeguards, police and ambulance officers were at the scene on Thursday.

By 4.40pm Lifesavers had been stood down from the search, a Seven News reporter Tweeted.

Hopefully the person is found soon and the responder knows any first aid procedures that might be helpful.

by Cari Nierenberg, Live Science Contributor   |   January 27, 2016 05:20pm ET

If a child passes out, parents can help them by performing a simple first-aid technique known as putting them in “the recovery position,” a new study suggests.

Children in the study who became unconscious because they fainted or had a seizure — but were still breathing — and were placed in the recovery position were almost 30 percent less likely to be hospitalized compared with children whose parents did not perform this first-aid method, researchers in Europe found. The maneuver involves laying a child on his or her side with the head tipped slightly back, which helps to keep a child’s airway open and allows fluids to drain from the mouth, preventing the child from choking, according to the study, published (Jan. 25) in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The finding shows that putting kids on their sides during a seizure really does help, and it works to keep kids from needing to be hospitalized, said Dr. David Mandelbaum, a pediatric neurologist at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, who was not involved in the research. Now, doctors can tell parents that this position greatly decreases the likelihood that complications will occur after a child loses consciousness, he added. [9 Weird Ways Kids Can Get Hurt]
Children who have seizures often vomit and have excessive amounts of saliva, Mandelbaum told Live Science. For those reasons, it’s better for the child to be rolled on their side than to lie flat on their back, so these secretions will fall out of their mouth, he said.

Putting a child in the recovery position also likely improves a child’s breathing, leading to a better recovery, the researchers said. But too few parents use the technique, and some perform inadequate maneuvers instead, they noted. Parents should never move or turn a child who may have a spinal cord injury, they noted.

Although Mandelbaum said that he does instruct parents to lay children on the floor when they’re having a seizure — as well as to protect the child’s head with a pillow, loosen tight clothing, roll the child on one side and never put things in a child’s mouth — he said he was not familiar with the phrase “recovery position,” and he doesn’t necessarily refer to the position that way when he educates parents.

First-aid websites from Europe, Australia and Canada do refer to the technique as the “recovery position.” To put a toddler or child in the recovery position, they recommend turning children to their left side, placing one of the child’s hands under their cheek to prop up the head slightly and placing the other arm at a 90-degree angle. Once the child is on their side, bend their top (right) leg to prevent them from rolling over.

For infants, the recovery position is different. Parents should hold the baby face down in their arms, with the infant’s head slightly lower than the rest of the body. In this position, the baby’s head and neck are supported by the parent’s hands, to keep the infant’s mouth and nose clear.

Regaining consciousness

In the new study, the researchers looked at 553 children who had been taken to the emergency room because of a loss of consciousness. Data was collected from interviews with parents in 11 different hospitals in six European countries.

Parents were asked what steps they took after their child lost consciousness, where they learned these techniques and how long it took for their child to regain consciousness.

The researchers found that only 26 percent of parents said they used the recovery position, which they learned about from doctors or during first-aid training.

Parents were more likely to report trying other techniques that they learned from other family members or the media to help revive their child. The findings showed that 17 percent of parents reported shaking their unconscious child, which doctors consider potentially dangerous, especially in infants younger than 1 year old, because it can lead to severe brain injuries.

Fourteen percent of parents said they put water on their child’s face, 11 percent said they slapped the child and 7 percent blew on the child’s face.

Slightly more than half of the children in the study who lost consciousness needed to be admitted to the hospital.

The study found a 10-fold reduction in hospitalization rates when the recovery position was performed on children younger than age 2.

The difference in hospital admission rates when the recovery position was done in kids under 2 was very high and really striking, Mandelbaum said.

One drawback of the study is that the researchers didn’t say whether it was the first time a child had a seizure. Parents might not receive instructions about safely positioning their child during a seizure until after their child had the first one, and first-time seizures typically have higher hospitalization rates, Mandelbaum said. [Epilepsy: Symptoms and Treatment]

The results also don’t tease out whether it was parents performing the recovery position that helped reduce hospital admission rates, or whether it was the firsthand experience of parents when it was not a child’s first seizure that shaped a physician’s comfort level and decision not to hospitalize a child, Mandelbaum said.

Some good basic first aid concepts but remember it is always important to get down to a local first aid course so that you know exactly what to do. If you need a first aid course certificate make sure you come to canberrafirstaid.com to book in. We run basic first aid course that are easy to follow and don’t overdo you with information.

St John Ambulance has produced an online video guide for parents and caregivers that aims to remove the fear factor in learning to use CPR on babies.
Source: AAP
20 JAN 2016 – 11:21 AM UPDATED 20 JAN 2016 – 12:00 PM

Parents are being urged to learn baby CPR with the help of an online video.

A poll of 2000 people for St John Ambulance shows that a baby who is unconscious and not breathing is a parent’s biggest fear – but only one in four would know what to do.

In the new video, parents are urged to first call the emergency number unless they are on their own, in which case they should do one minute of CPR before calling for help.

They should cover their baby’s nose and mouth and give five puffs, each lasting around a second.

Then they should use two fingers in the centre of the chest to give 30 pumps at 100-120 per minute.

The sequence should be repeated with two puffs and 30 pumps until help arrives.

The video, which features memorable nursery rhyme characters such as Humpty Dumpty, includes a rhyme which is: “Puff, puff and 30 more pumps… repeat this until the ambulance comes.”
The campaign is called Nursery Rhymes Inc and follows last year’s The Chokeables, which taught parents how to help a choking baby.

That campaign is credited with saving the lives of 46 children.

Sue Killen, chief executive of St John Ambulance, said: “The Chokeables was a real step forward for us and the response was amazing. We’ve listened to parents and we know that they want to learn first-aid skills in a way that’s easy and memorable.

“We know that a major barrier to parents learning is that baby CPR frightens them, so we’ve removed the fear factor and made it reassuring and as easy as possible to learn.

“We’re asking everyone to share the video so that all parents, grandparents and carers can learn what to do in those crucial minutes after a baby has stopped breathing.”

Research shows that only one in four parents have learnt first aid specifically for babies.

The video will be launched online and on St John Ambulance’s Facebook and Twitter pages, alongside a TV campaign.

St John Ambulance is also offering baby first-aid courses for parents, carers and parents-to-be, costing $25 + VAT. To find the nearest course, go to www.sja.org.uk.

Please be aware that these videos are from the UK and thus the CPR guidelines are not exactly the same in Australia. Make sure you get to your local Canberra first aid course so that you can learn the exact performance techniques in Australia. Call Canberra First Aid now to book into a Canberra first aid course.