Recently my 13-year-old son & I went on a camping trip to put his new swag to the test on South Stradbroke Island, QLD. Our father-son bonding time was interrupted early in the trip when he suffered a significant burn to his hand and fingers. The cause… a campfire covered with sand. Whoever was using the camping spot the night before us had decided to extinguish their campfire by covering it with sand. Interestingly, when telling this story to friends and family, many of them were unaware of the danger of covering beach fires with sand. So why is covering beach fires with sand so dangerous ..read more

A pool can be a great addition to any Australian backyard, providing a fun and refreshing way to beat the summer heat. However, it’s important to remember that a pool also comes with certain risks, especially when it comes to water safety. Drowning is one of the leading causes of accidental death in children under the age of five in Australia, so it’s important for pool owners to take steps to keep their loved ones safe. One way to do this is by displaying a pool resuscitation (CPR) chart around your pool. A pool resuscitation chart is a visual guide that provides step-by-step instructions on ..read more

In November 2019 the Queensland Government implemented changes for ongoing training for licensed bodyguards and crowd controllers. In addition to the standard first aid that is completed during the initial training of guards, Advanced First Aid (Provide Advanced First Aid HLTAID006) must be completed every three years. This two-day course extends basic first aid skills to include additional training such as major bleeding control with the use of tourniquets and hemostatic dressings, patient extraction, ongoing patient assessment and more. This course will also update annual CPR requirements. P ..read more

There are numerous theories and myths relating to why some people develop a mental illness. One of the biggest myths is that it is a character flaw, a weakness but that is not the case – mental illness does not discriminate and can happen to ANYONE! Some theories talk about biological, social and psychological factors. These include genetics, stress, bereavement, relationship breakdown, unemployment, social isolation and major physical illness or disability. There has been much research into identifying why some people may be more prone to mental health issues and this involves risk and resili ..read more

Think of mental health as a continuum, with health at one side and illness at the other. When does having a bad day become a mental health problem? Is a mental health problem the same as a mental illness? Two words are really important here, severity and persistence. If something impacts upon a person to the point it interferes with their everyday life and goes on for a period of time – then it is time to seek help. Problems encompass a broad range of emotional and behavioural difficulties which may cause intermittent concern or distress (such as failing an exam, work pressure, etc) whereas I ..read more

Think of mental health as a continuum, with health at one side and illness at the other. We are all positioned somewhere along this line, it can change throughout our lives and just because a person has a mental illness, it doesn’t mean to say they are not coping or able to live a fulfilling life (we shall explore this in a future blog post) When does having a bad day become a mental health problem? Is a mental health problem the same as a mental illness? Two words are really important here, severity and persistence. If something impacts upon a person to the point it interferes with their eve ..read more

Over the next few months, we are going to be addressing some of the most common myths surrounding mental health. Firstly, let’s look at mental health – what exactly is it? What words come to you mind when you hear the phrase mental health? Maybe psycho, depression, crazy, dangerous or resilience, emotion, coping? The majority of people will initially think of mental ILLNESS rather than health. Mental health can mean different things to different people and there are a number of definitions around. The World Health Organization define mental health as “a state of well-being in which every indi ..read more

In this weeks blog post we are visiting the treatment of Dental Trauma. A shoutout to Medland Orthodontics for supplying the below information. REMAIN CALM: Your response or reaction to illness, injury and trauma will affect a person’s ability to cooperate. All incidents should be handled calmly and quietly. A panicked person is more likely to cause difficulty for caregivers providing first aid or treatment and may lead to further trauma. In all cases, staff will remain with the person and not leave them unattended. SURVEY SCEN ..read more

G’day everyone and welcome to another blog. This one is going to give a broad outline on what to do for all the awesome things out there in this fantastic country of ours that can bite, sting or envenomate us!!! There have been a couple of blogs and guides done up in the past on our site, but I figured that this one will put it all in the one spot. To make it a bit easier, I will divide the blog up into the four treatment categories, then add in some of the animals/creatures into each category. Please note, this is not intended ..read more

Hi all and welcome to another blog. When teaching a standard provide first aid course, we cover your primary survey (also called an emergency action plan or basic life support flow chart) in a decent amount of depth. But due to time restraints, we only briefly touch on the secondary survey. If you do the more advanced courses (such as Advanced First Aid and Remote First Aid), we go into the secondary survey in a lot more depth. So for this blog, I thought I would go through all the patient assessment tools that you the first ai ..read more