Kalumburu parents Lanco, Samone, Julie and Aaron with RLSSWA's Samantha Dalton and Pool Lifeguard Kimberley Rose French
Kidilink families learn vital skills in Kalumburu
Royal Life Saving WA is keen to see all parents and carers of young children, right across all parts of WA, learn vital skills to keep their children safe around water. Despite massive improvements in drowning figures for young children in our state in recent years, drowning is still the number one cause of preventable death for children under the age of five.
With people in regional parts of WA 3.8 times more likely to drown than those in the Perth metro area getting these vital skills into the hands of regional families is even more important, and we’re pleased to be able to partner with our Remote Aboriginal Swimming Pools in the Kimberley and Pilbara to make this happen! Recently our Remote Aboriginal Swimming Pool in Kalumburu, WA’s northernmost settlement, hosted a Heart Beat Club session for parents from the local Kalumburu Kidilink.
The Heart Beat Club is a community education program that covers emergency response for potential accidents that can occur around the home, enabling parents and carers to build confidence in responding to choking, burns and scalds, drowning and infant/toddler resuscitation. KindiLink is a WA Department of Education initiative that provides a play-and-learn environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0 to 3, and their parents, and this Heart Beat Club session was part of their weekly program last Friday.
The session was run by Royal Life Saving WA’s Samantha Dalton with assistance from Kalumburu Pool Lifeguard Kimberley Rose French. Kimberley is the only Indigenous lifeguard to work full time at any of our eight remote pools and is now in her third year at the Kalumburu pool. Parents Lanco, Samone, Julie and Aaron thoroughly enjoyed the training and learned many new skills while having a lot of fun too!
We look forward to hearing more about all the educational fun being had at the Kalumburu Remote Pool over the course of the current season, which runs through until May 2022. You can read more about our Remote Aboriginal Swimming Pool program at the link below.
