Yandeyarra parents learn valuable life saving skills

A group of mums recently took part in a Heart Beat Club session at Yandeyarra Remote Community School. The course was a joint project between Royal Life Saving WA, Yandeyarra Remote Community School and Child Australia.

Six mums from the local community attended the course, which was held at Yandeyarra Remote Community School and run by Royal Life Saving WA's Pilbara Development Officer Jacqui Forbes. They learnt lifesaving CPR and first aid skills as well as water safety tips to keep young children safe around the home. The Heart Beat Club is a short three-hour training session that covers first aid for common childhood injuries including burns and scalds, choking and drowning and provides information on how to perform child resuscitation or CPR.

Trudy Gear, supervisor of West Pilbara Mobile Children’s Service at Child Australia, helped to organize the course which ran during the weekly playgroup. She says the parents who took part responded very well. “It was a really successful morning and was great to see these mums so engaged and so eager to learn.”

Drowning is the leading cause of preventable death in children under the age of five in Australia, and CPR performed at the scene is one potential way to protect children in the event of an emergency. 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 course at Yandeyarra was provided for free to the parents who took part through the Keep Watch Heart Beat Club grants program. This program provides Heart Beat Clubs free of charge to groups that have barriers to accessing other first aid training courses. Last year, 31 courses were provided, with over 400 participants learning vital skills that could save their child’s life.

For more information on the Heart Beat Club Grants program, and to find out how your community organisation can apply please click the link below.