St John Caring for Kids
I’ve always thought the importance of first aid knowledge is essential for new parents but also in keeping up to date with the skills and changes to CPR and DRSABCD is for all parents and carers so when I was invited to head along to a St John Caring for Kids course it was an easy yes.
These courses are held at various locations across Perth including Belmont, Osborne Park, Joondalup and Rockingham plus country locations from Esperance up to Broome, with weekend and weekday courses and cost $95 and 5 hours to complete. All participants receive a certificate and a Tiny Tots First Aid Kit valued at $35.
My course was at the Belmont location on a Sunday in a very relaxed environment and we had couples expecting their first babies in the next few months, grandparents, au pairs and parents of young children amongst our group of 20. Our instructor is a paramedic and told us a little about her job and family life before we all introduced ourselves and said why we were doing the course.
Most of the first couple of hours are spent on DRSABC and CPR which seems to change every time I do a course! I’m glad the instructor kept going at CPR until everyone felt confident in performing the compressions and that we got to do the CPR on baby size and child size mannequins. We also did the choking moves on these mannequins.
We then moved on to cover common childhood problems that we may encounter including allergies, asthma, burns, choking, shock, falls, fractures, poisoning, bites and stings plus what may be experienced if a child becomes ill such as febrile convulsions, fever, aches and pains, meningococcal and what to look for when rashes appear. Even as a mum of four I felt much less anxious about dealing with the above situations.
Technology plays a big part in first aid courses now with the addition of D in DRSABCD for defibrillator. I’ve noticed defibrillators have now been installed at all my local shopping centres plus many other community centres and was glad we covered how to use them as the pads are placed in different locations on children compared to adults.
On the St John First Responder app, you can find where your nearest defibrillator is located by clicking ‘Defibrillators nearby’ and it pops up with a map of the ones near you. Another handy hint we learnt about the First Responder app is that if you call 000 through it your exact location is immediately available to the ambulance officers. It also has all your first aid guides included.
The 5 hour course flew by quickly and I now feel confident and well educated on dealing with many types of situations I may face as a parent and thoroughly recommend this course. There are no assessments to complete just lots of hands-on practice until you feel confident about dealing with each situation.
Bookings for the Caring for Kids course via stjohnambulance.com.au.
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