Wet Workshop well received by aquatic trainers

As part of a series of ongoing professional development sessions for Community Trainers, Royal Life Saving WA hosted our inaugural Wet Workshop yesterday at Claremont Pool. The Wet Workshop offers professional development in the components of Aquatic Rescues, and aims to provide consistent information to trainers who teach aquatic courses.

30 community and VacSwim trainers from across Perth and regional WA attended the 5-hour workshop. The morning kicked off with the ‘dry’ session, which featured presentations from two guest speakers. Rachel Murray, Royal Life Saving WA’s Keep Watch program coordinator, spoke to the group about drowning prevention, and trainer Nicole Durrant delivered a presentation on CPR. 

Attendees then got to have some hands-on experience during the practical CPR component. The group practised using high-tech manikins that were connected to an app to measure their technique. Variables such as compression depth and lung inflation volume were measured, with users receiving a percentage score for the overall effectiveness of their efforts.

The trainers then moved to the pool area for the ‘wet’ session, where they were divided into groups to rotate between four stations. Each station was led by a different trainer, focusing on various skills. Sallie Watson and Nicole Durrant headed up the Spinals session which covered the management of spinal injuries in shallow and deep water. David Townsend instructed the group in performing various Water Rescues, Isabel Franzoni took the group through a series of Initiatives, and Cathie Calleja led the session on Survival Skills. 

Trainers were given practical demonstrations and were able to put into practise the techniques as they learned them. They could ask questions as they went along and received constructive feedback in real time from our experts in each category.

A huge thank you to all our wonderful presenters and to the trainers who were able to attend on the day. We hope that everyone took away some valuable learnings and we look forward to seeing more community trainers at the next workshop!

If you're interested in becoming a Community Trainer, learn more at the link below.