HIT THE WATER SUNDAY
sundayterritorian.com.au
Take a CPR refresher
Saving a life
needs practice
UNLIKE riding a bike, resuscitation is
easily forgotten, according to Royal
Life Saving Society NT executive director Floss Roberts.
She said regular refreshers and updates were critical for being able to administer CPR in an emergency, and
may be the difference between life
and death.
‘‘You never want to be in a position
where someone you love needs your
help and you just can’t remember what
to do,’’ Mrs Roberts said.
‘‘The first four minutes are critical.
‘‘What you do in that time really does
save lives.’’
In January this year the Australian
Resuscitation Council devised new
guidelines to make the steps easier
to follow.
The latest acronym describing the
steps for resuscitation is DRSABCD,
which added two new steps to the old
adage DRABC.
‘‘A good way of checking how sharp
your memory is for resuscitation is to
try and explain the resuscitation acronym — DRSABCD. If you can’t remember, it’s time for a refresher,’’ she said.
She said people should also purchase
resuscitation signs to display in public
areas to prompt people in the delivery
of CPR. ‘‘All boats, homes and offices
should have an up-to-date CPR sign in
full view,’’ Mrs Roberts said.
‘‘In an emergency, the visual prompt
of the sign will really help you to focus
on what you need to do.
‘‘(The signs) help you switch over to
the automatic D, R, S.’’
Mrs Roberts said a quick way to
check whether your resuscitation sign
was up-to-date was to look for the ‘‘S’’
step. If it is not there, then your sign
needs replacing.
Being the dry season, Royal Life Saving NT was encouraging boaties, especially, to purchase the signs to display
on board their vessel.
‘‘You never know when you’re going
to be out fishing and someone needs
help,’’ Mrs Roberts said.
‘‘For boaties who are enjoying the
great fishing it’s especially important
to get their resuscitation skills up-todate now.’’
Royal Life Saving NT has the signs
available for purchase from its website
www.nt.royallifesaving.com.au
They cost $20 and all the profits go
back into water safety programs.
Royal Life Saving NT also offers refresher courses and CPR-in-a-box
e-learning courses.
5 FREE
Water Safety
Sessions for NT kids
under 5 years.
Enrol Now!
Call Royal Life Saving Society NT on:
or enrol online at:
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Floss Roberts, executive director of Royal Life Saving Society NT, explains the new signage
to Steve Gazzola at Tipperary Waters
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Sunday 17 th July
PUB:
Available now!
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www.sundayterritorian.com.au
Sunday, July 10, 2011. Sunday Territorian.
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