Laurie Lawrence Launches Free CPR Training to Help Save Lives
By: Steff Willis
Royal Lifesaving (RLSSA) and Kids Alive have joined forces to ensure more Australians know how to save the life of a little one, launching The Heart Beat Club.
The Heart Beat Club is an online training program aimed at empowering Australians with vital CPR and first aid knowledge for infants and toddlers.
Despite 90% of parents acknowledging how critical CPR training was, a recent survey by RLSSA revealed a concerning gap with only 59% of Australian parents completing CPR training, and a mere 23% having gained the skill in the past 12 months.
Lauren Nimmo, Senior Manager – Research, Media and Communications at Royal Life Saving WA said the statistics suggested families were underprepared to handle an emergency.
“More than 40% of parents don’t have any CPR skills and we know resuscitation knowledge significantly diminishes within 3-6 months post-training, so there is a huge need for more education and for people to refresh their skills.”
“The Heart Beat Club makes it easy because it removes some of the common barriers such as cost and time that people claim prevents them from gaining this life saving knowledge.”
Laurie Lawrence, founder of Kids Alive and a former Australian Rugby Union Representative and Olympic and World Champion Swim coach, spoke with 96five’s Jess Drummond about the importance of the training.
“The research found that 90% of parents know how critical CPR training is, but there’s a big gap and 59% of Australian parents have completed that CPR training” Laurie said.
“So why is it not being done? Probably because people are time poor and money. They’re the two issues.
“So Royal Lifesaving have put together an online course, a refresher course for CPR training and also for some first aid training for kids in that toddler, four- to five-year-old age group.
Laurie urged every parent and grandparent to take advantage of the free course.
“Last year 16 children died from drowning in Australia and for every one of them eight children were hospitalised following a non-fatal drowning incident, many of which are left with lifelong impact.
“Lives are lost in pools, dams, baths, sinks and even nappy buckets. These lives could potentially be saved using the skills learnt in just an hour at home with The Heart Beat Club.
“This initiative represents a vital bridge to helping curb these numbers and ensure that every Australian can confidently respond in a crisis because any attempt at CPR when a child is not breathing can dramatically increase survival rates.”
The Heart Beat Club will offer a month free access to its online training and will cover a range of topics including CPR skills, along with first aid essentials like how to treat common injuries, choking, burns, scalds, control of bleeding, dealing with shock and control of communicable disease.
Designed to be completed in just one hour people can register for a login at www.heartbeatclub.org.au.
Article supplied with thanks to 96five.
