Almost half the drowning deaths of children under five occur in swimming pools.
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This year the April Pools Day safety campaign will providing a free online CPR course for pool owners that could help them save children's’ lives.
Brian Lamarre from Poolwerx Moss Vale said research by Poolwerx found that 75 per cent of parents admitted they were not confident they had the CPR skills to save a life.
“Many parents said they were unaware of where to get CPR training and thought it was too expensive,” he said.
“That’s why we teamed with Australian Red Cross and Laurie Lawrence’s Kids Alive program to remove the perceived barriers for parents and make it simple, fast and free to get CPR training.”
Mr Lamarre said pool owners who wanted to complete the free online CPR course could visit a Poolwerx store anytime from April 3 during the April Pools Day campaign.
“We will provide them with a codeword they can use to redeem a voucher for the free course,” he said.
“The online course only takes a few hours and begins the process of equipping pool owners with the right knowledge to help save a life in an emergency situation.”
Founder of Kids Alive and advocate of April Pools Day Laurie Lawrence, said anything that would help reduce drowning statistics and improve pool safety in Australia was worth getting behind.
“Last year drowning deaths in children under five increased by 32 per cent and we all have a role to play to help reduce this tragic statistic,” he said.
“April Pools Day speaks to our fifth important step to reduce the risk of preschool drowning and that is ‘Learn how to resuscitate’. 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 that almost 30 per cent of parents surveyed by Poolwerx believed they did not need to obtain CPR training as their partner knew how to perform CPR.
“Children can get into trouble in the water anywhere and at any time and that’s why it’s so important for all parents to be confident that they could perform CPR in an emergency,” she said.
“The Australian Red Cross online CPR training program gives people the opportunity to update their knowledge of CPR and they can then pay to complete a short practical course to obtain their full CPR certificate.”
Moss Vale Poolwerx is located at 20/9 Clarence St, Moss Vale.
Visit aprilpoolsday.com.au for more information.
For more information about Australian Red Cross: redcross.org.au
