Emma Pritchard

More than 100 Year 6 students at Westlawn Public School and St Marys Primary School in Grafton participated in the CPR Awareness Program last week.

Directed by Cameron McFarlane, a fully qualified Aquatic Pool Lifeguard, Surf Rescue Lifeguard, and a Royal Life Saving Society Trainer and Assessor, who developed and designed the program in 2011, students were taught valuable lifesaving skills while learning about the safety and correct procedures involved in resuscitating and stabilising non-responsive individuals.

Throughout its duration, the internationally recognised CPR Awareness Program has educated more than 50000 students across NSW and Vietnam.  

Mr McFarlane said it was fantastic to include Clarence Valley students amongst those numbers following his visit on October 27.

“It’s important for all children to learn how to perform CPR because it is a lifesaving skill,” he explained.

“Students were split into groups and given a mannequin to practice CPR on, and they were shown how to effectively provide CPR to adults and children.

“It’s the same technique, it’s still 30 chest compressions to every two rescue breaths, but when performing CPR on a child the head only needs to be tilted halfway back and the students learned how to administer CPR on infants by using their fingers.

“They were also taught to use two hands and how and where to place them when giving CPR to an adult.

“All of the St Marys and Westlawn students did such a fantastic job.

“Staff members got involved too and were offering a lot of guidance and direction.

“It’s very rewarding for me to watch students learn, and the CPR Awareness Program is a fun, interesting, and interactive way to educate them.”

Mr McFarlane confirmed the CPR Awareness Program will return to the Clarence Valley in 2024 and said he would love to visit as many schools as possible throughout the region.