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New lifesaving program launched in Newcastle

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A new course in Disability First Aid could be the difference between life and death for people living with disability.

The course uses basic first aid principles and adapts them to situations an individual living with disability may face so carers can be equipped to respond.  

Disability First Aid Director Joel Robinson said he created the course because of the questions he was receiving.

“I kept getting questions about helping someone who has a disability and how those first aid principles apply, and I didn’t actually have the answers for them,” he said.

The former paramedic added that in stereotypical courses you are not taught how to adapt first aid skills to situations where the patient has mobility or cognitive issues.

“When we teach normal first aid, we show people how to assist someone who is choking and the assumption is that they are standing up; they’ve jumped up from a dining table and are choking on a bit of food,” he said.

“What [Disability First Aid] do is go ‘alright we’re going to take these principles and adapt them to someone who is in a wheelchair who can’t get up’.”

He said learning these skills is vital, particularly for disability carers, because there is only a small window to save a person’s life.

Developed and launched in Newcastle the program is the only one like it across the country, the course involves a full day of training and a one to two-hour online component.

“We’re hoping this becomes a mandatory requirement for people working in the disability sector.

“People are dying unnecessarily from basic things like choking on food when they are in the bed and the skill gap there is something we are trying to fill.

“The technique can be lifesaving.”

The $250 course is offered at Essential Skills Training and Recruitment in Warabrook (Unit1/3 Warabrook Boulevard).

Associate Director Dee Cooke said they have been “overwhelmed” with interest for the course.

All participants must have a nationally accredited first aid certificate and provide a copy of it when enrolling.

The next training date is Tuesday 17 March.

To enrol in a course or for more information email [email protected] or call 4961 0016. Or visit the website.

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