Poolwerx, Australia’s largest pool maintenance franchise has initiated a community safety campaign April Pools Day, aimed at arming people with lifesaving CPR skills after a study of parents across Australia revealed a staggering 75 per cent believed they did not have the necessary CPR skills to save a life.
Launching on April 1, April Pools Day is the culmination of a unique partnership between Poolwerx, Australian Red Cross and Laurie Lawrence’s Kids Alive program.
John O’Brien, CEO and Founder of Poolwerx said people would be able to access hands on 20 minute CPR demonstrations from training partner Australian Red Cross in 106 Poolwerx stores across Australia.
“We are in backyards everyday so our aim with April Pools Day is to provide everyone an opportunity to refresh their basic CPR skills and hopefully remind them what a vital, lifesaving skill it is to rely on in an emergency,” Mr O’Brien said.
Laurie Lawrence, Founder of Kids Alive and advocate of April Pools Day said anything that would help reduce drowning statistics and improve pool safety in Australia was worth getting behind.
“We had a dreadful Summer this year with 24 deaths and while drowning statistics are dropping overall, every life lost is one too many,” he said. “April Pools Day speaks to our fifth step ‘Learn how to resuscitate’ and it is absolutely vital parents have this skill as a child is four times more likely to survive if given CPR.
Australian Red Cross first aid trainer Janie McCullagh said she was concerned that parents surveyed were not confident in their ability to step in during an emergency, either because they had no CPR skills at all or it had been some time since they had undertaken training.
“Australian Red Cross believes everyone should be prepared for an emergency and that’s why we support first aid training across the country.
“A few hours in a Red Cross training program to learn CPR, or doing a CPR refresher course, can save a life,” she said.
Mr O’Brien said he hoped all Australian families would be encouraged to upgrade their knowledge of lifesaving CPR skills.
“Apart from the in-store demonstrations we have also secured an exclusive rate for anyone that wants to upgrade their skills with Australian Red Cross and complete the 4 hour CPR certification or a full first aid course. We want to see as many Aussies as possible making a difference for their families.”
For CPR demonstration locations and times and details for the special CPR courses available through Australian Red Cross Australia visit www.aprilpoolsday.com.au or http://www.redcross.org.au/first-aid.aspx