Jen's First Aid Training Rant

So... while Janet and I were playing at the Melbourne Museum and then with the Guides (see my last post), Jen of course was at school. And after school today she had to take the second part of a first aid recert. She had a bit of an interesting time. But let me let her tell the rest of the story... over to you, Jen...


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Well, Becky has asked me to write about the day that I had learning about Australian First Aid. The first part of the First Aid course was pretty much the same as a Canadian one, look for danger, assess consciousness and the ABCs. We got into the scary part on how to deal with the snake bites and spider bites that can kill you in Australia. How to bandage a wound until you can get the anti venom kit into you.

The mind blowing parts are the differences between the Australian and Canadian standards for First aid.

Number 1- when someone is conscious but fully blocked in choking, you are suppose to lie them on their side and deliver 5 sharp blows to their back to get the blockage out. The Heimleck maneuver is not used because you could force up bile from the stomach. You are not suppose to hit someone on the back! That is a given!

Number 2- If you have administered an epi pen to a child, and they have not reacted to it (to solve the breathing problem) or the ambulance hasn’t shown up, you are not allowed to give them another epi pen even if they have another one. You have to have permission from the ambulance attendant. I’m sorry, I am not going to let a kid die because I have to wait for permission.

Number 3-It is illegal to make schools “nut free” because it is against the discriminatory laws in Victoria. It is discriminatory against a child that wants to eat a peanut butter sandwich in class. So you can’t have “nut free” or “scent free” schools. When I mentioned that we did all that we could do to make it possible, I was given a look like I was crazy.

Number 4-You can’t get Twinex in Australia, that epi pen that has a double dose on it so that if a child doesn’t react to the first dose, you can give them the second dose.

So that is my rant about the differences between Canadian and Australian First Aid. I still can’t believe that it is considered to be discriminatory when it is someone’s health that is at risk. That someone’s food preference is put above a child’s health, that’s nutts.