A group of Heart Beat Club participants after recently completing their course.

Heart Beat Club grants have great impact

Royal Life Saving WA's Heart Beat Club grants were established four years ago, under the Keep Watch toddler drowning prevention program. In many cases of child drowning, a parent or carer will be the first person on the scene and applying appropriate CPR skills may be the difference between life and death.

The Heart Beat Club community education course is specifically designed for parents and carers of children under the age of five. The three-hour session covers child and infant CPR and first aid for common childhood injuries such as choking, poisoning and burns.

The aim of the grants is to provide free courses for high-risk parents and carers, with the goal of increasing their capacity to respond in an emergency and ultimately reduce the number of fatal drownings and serious drowning-related injuries in children under five years in Western Australia.

Applications are invited from Western Australian community organisations who work with parents who may have barriers to accessing first aid training. This includes people from the following backgrounds: Aboriginal, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse, Low socio-economic status and Adolescent parents.

In 2017/18, a total of 458 parents and carers of children under five years attended the various courses. This is the greatest number of attendees over the four-year history of the grants program and demonstrates the high level of interest in CPR training among this target group. Grants were awarded to 25 organisations who had previously hosted a course and 8 who took up the opportunity for the very first time.

Royal Life Saving WA could like to thank the WA Department of Health for providing the funding for the Heart Beat Club grants via the Keep Watch toddler drowning prevention program. We’d also like to acknowledge the amazing efforts of the RLSSWA Training Department who provided all administrative support including booking the trainers, completing payments, preparing course materials and collating course paperwork.

Thanks also to the community trainers who delivered the Heart Beat Club sessions in a variety of locations to a wide range of participants. Some of these sessions faced challenges such as having children present in the training room or working with participants with limited English skills. A majority of the feedback was complimentary towards the trainers and together they have equipped more than 450 parents and carers with the skills to respond in an emergency this year.

If you, or know of someone who may be interested in applying for a 2018/19 Heart Beat Club grant, applications are now open. You can complete an application form at the link below.