First Aid for Kids

St John's Ambulance offers a free program for primary school students teaching them the importance of First Aid and what to do in the event of an emergency.

The program is focuses on the DRSABCD, and takes students step-by-step through age appropriate, practical skills that empowers them to act.

D - Danger
R - Respond
S - Send for help
A - Airways
B - Breathing
C - Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
D - Defibulation

Students in Foundation and year 1 learn how to identify an emergency, and put the Danger, Response and Send for help strategy into action and they learn the first aid chant that will help them remember what to do in an emergency. 

Students in year 2 learn how to spot DANGER in an emergency, RESPOND accordingly and SEND for help. They will be guided on what number to call and act out a scenario to get them comfortable calling 000 in real life. 

Students in years 3 and 4 revise ‘DRS’ and calling Triple Zero. The main focus for these students is demonstrating how to check Airways and Breathing and how to place a patient into the recovery position. 

Students in years 5 and 6 revise DRSAB and incorporate a practical CPR component, being guided through how to perform CPR and when it is required in a Frist Aid situation. 

'Poppi came to ur school and taught us to be safe and how to call 000.' (Hayaat)

'Poppi taught us that if someone falls, we need to take a deep breath and check around for danger, and look to see if the person is OK. If they are not, call 000.' (Alma)

'There are special things you can do to check people's breathing and airways if they are unconscious.' (Emmanuel)

'If you have to call 000 in an emergency, always stay on the call with them until they tell you to hang up.' (Muaad)

'To find the right spot to do CPR, you use your fingers to find the middle of the sternum. You press down to 1/3 of the body depth of the person when you do CPR. Doing it to the rhythm of Baby Shark and changing the words to Save a Life, do, do, do, do-do-do helps you keep up the speed you need to press down.' (Mies)

'If you think someone may be unconscious, pinch the tops of their shoulders. It hurts! If they are asleep, it will wake them up. If they do not respond, they are likely to be unconscious. Then you need to check their breathing and start CPR if they are not breathing.' (Raisa)

'When doing CPR, you have to go quite deep with the compressions. You have to do 100 - 120 compressions per minute. Don't stop doing them until someone else can help do them, until the ambulance arrives or unless it is too dangerous for you to keep going.' (Lana)