First Aid Awareness Day - Year 8

First Aid knowledge and understanding is highly advantageous in all environments and can provide students with the skills to potentially manage an emergency situation should they arise. This course is compulsory for all students undertaking Year 8 PDHPE as it meets syllabus outcomes and requirements. There were many stations of thrilling and excitement inducing activities throughout the day for Year 8. Each station had an individual purpose to educate and benefit the students through teaching them about safety and how to potentially save someone else’s life.

CPR

Our special guests, Tammy and Rhiane from Royal Life Saving Service Australia had come to St Francis to instruct the students on how to perform CPR in a safe, respectful and efficient manner. They did this through teaching the students about DRSABCD which is an acronym to perform CPR in the most effective manner possible. They had also prepared practicals which include mannequins so that the students could experience a real life example/demonstration of performing CPR on a person.

Anaphylaxis/Asthma

One of the highly regarded teachers, Mr Baker had taught students about Anaphylaxis reactions and Asthma. He had taught that Anaphylaxis is a severe and life threatening allergic reaction that can be caused through common allergens such as bee stings, nuts and eggs. These anaphylactic reactions can be deadly as the throat can swell and the airways can close, resulting in a lack of oxygen resulting in death. However, he had also taught the students about how to administer treatments for an anaphylactic reaction which is to use an epipen on the outer thigh in a safe manner and he also gave students a practise epipen to give them a real life experience of using an epipen on themselves or someone else. Furthermore, he had also taught the students about a common respiratory disease, asthma. He had educated students on common causes of asthma attacks such as exercise, unclear air and emotions. He had also taught students how to issue puffers/inhalers/relievers whilst teaching them to recognise to call for an ambulance if the asthmatic still struggled to breathe after 4 puffs.

DRSABCD Worksheet

Several PDHPE teachers such as Mr Watson, Mr Zakaris, Miss Santucci and Mrs Kells had designed a booklet for students to fill out which summarised the content that was learnt throughout the day from identifying danger before CPR to common causes and treatments of asthma.

Sport

To link with the practical component of our PDHPE unit this term, groups also participated in sport sessions throughout the day of either basketball or netball. This was a fun way to encourage the students to exercise and move about after sitting down and learning so many fun things!