Merion Forsyth (front) and Cindy Robins take part in the CPR course at Lynex Health Care and Training Services in Narre Warren.
By Callan Date
THE ability to save a life is priceless.
Some of the 12 participants taking part in a first-aid course at Lynex Health Care and Training Services in Narre Warren are returning for a refresher session, while others are learning for the first time.
But all want to know how to save a life. Occupations range from childcare workers to scientists, all eager to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Many of the first-aid participants agree the skills they are learning will also hold them in good stead outside of work hours.
Cindy Robins, 34, is a childcare worker and is required to undertake a CPR refresher course every 12 months.
“I can be looking after up to seven young children at any one time, so it is vital to have first-aid training and knowing CPR is essential,” she said.
Wanting to know what to do in an emergency is a common theme among the course participants and they all believe their training would instinctively kick in when facing an emergency.
“Fortunately I have never had to use the CPR skills in a real life situation, but it’s great to know that if something was to happen I would know what to do,” Ms Robins said.
Microbiologist Teresa Abajo, 33, has been wanting to undertake a first-aid course for 15 years and is excited at the prospect of having proper emergency training.
“I’m always at sporting activities with the kids and having elderly parents and in-laws means it’s a vital tool to have,” Ms Abajo said.
Lynex Health Care and Training Services director Delene Lynex said her centre trained about 1000 people each year in a range of different first-aid courses.
If Lynex graduate Ted Henderson had his way it would be compulsory for every adult to have basic first-aid training. That’s how high the Narre Warren North resident values CPR after he was required to put his training into practice on a heart attack victim earlier this year.
“It was the longest eight to 10 minutes of my life and it just seemed like an eternity before the paramedics arrived,” Mr Henderson said.
He undertakes a first-aid course every six months at Lynex Health Care and Training Services and swears by its life-saving value.
“The training kicked in straight away and I just started performing CPR like I had been taught at the course,” Mr Henderson said.
So good was Mr Henderson’s CPR that paramedics let him continue on the elderly man while they set up their equipment.
“They told me later that the man had suffered a massive heart attack and what we did was exactly what was required,” he said.
Ms Lynex and her staff also ran first-aid courses at the Narre Community Learning Centre and had seen a steady increase in enrolments over the past two years.
“I believe it is important for people to have a basic knowledge of first-aid practices, as there are so many different circumstances that may arise where someone needs to know what to do in an emergency,” Ms Lynex said.
Paramedics, doctors and nurses all know what to do, emergency workers also have essential life-saving skills and it also seems that many everyday citizens want to know how to react in a life or death situation.
