Saving lives is the driving force behind the Cabarita Beach Pottsville Beach Lions Club’s free CPR training that was first delivered on Monday, February 24.
Their pilot program was rolled out with 18 attendees and was inspired by an initiative of the Mildura Lions Club in Victoria.
‘We first came across an article in the Lions International Magazine in August 2024 when Hands On Heart Australia was launched through the Mildura Lions Club and thus began our journey,’ said Bill Brodie, President of Cabarita Beach Pottsville Beach Lions Club.
The Hands on Heart Australia was started by Graeme Tulloch who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in 2014, and his friend Phil Kettle, one of Australia’s most successful children’s authors, whose brother had lost his life to cardiac arrest.
Graeme’s life was saved by the first person that stopped when he had his cardiac arrest who fortunately knew how to administer CPR. Together Graeme and Phil decided they would like to put back into the community and approached Mildura Lions Club who agreed to become involved in this community initiative.
Working closely with Angela Izard First Aid Services Mildura the first free CPR course was offered to people in the Mildura and surrounding areas in May 2023. They are looking to have 1,800 people in basic CPR over three years.
Pottsville and Cabarita inspired
Inspired by this model the Cabarita Beach Pottsville Beach Lions are aiming to train an additional 300 individuals locally in basic CPR over the next two years.
‘Our goal is to empower our community with the skills and confidence to save lives,’ said Mr Brodie.
‘We will be focusing on year 6 children and youth as this is the generation that can make a difference.’
The training provider, Pacific Coast First Aid, will conduct face to face basic CPR and defibrillator training with no pre-course work required. This course is a non-accredited course.
‘CPR awareness (including the performance of CPR) and the use of the Defibrillator have been identified as having a relatively low awareness in our community,’ explained Mr Brodie.
A person suffering cardiac arrest or heart attack in public (or at home) is heavily reliant on bystanders providing potentially lifesaving CPR.’
Find out more here: https://lionscbpb.org.au or email [email protected].
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