More than 1000 Victoria University secondary college students learned how to save their mates last week.
They took part in Life Saving Victoria’s one-hour Resuscitate a Mate program, which showed them what to do in an emergency.
It taught them the emergency response sequence – danger, response, send for help, airways, breathing, CPR and defibrillation –and basic resuscitation techniques.
It’s the second year in a row the program, funded by a Brimbank youth services grant, has been run at the college’s Deer Park and Brimbank campuses.
Melissa Laird, from Life Saving Victoria, said the program gave students the opportunity to develop lifesaving skills that could one day save a friend or family member.
“We often hear stories where children and young adults have been instrumental in the chain of survival,” she said.
“The Resuscitate a Mate program teaches students what to do in an emergency situation and will, hopefully, increase safety and emergency procedure knowledge among young people in Brimbank.
“It’s so important we have everyday people in our community empowered with the skills to save lives.”
The classes come five months after Catholic Regional College student Dean Stomilovic helped save the life of classmate Thomas Gebremariam.
When he noticed Thomas struggling to breathe during a recess in March, Dean performed compressions while a teacher on yard duty did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until the school nurse and paramedics arrived.
Dean learned CPR techniques at his local football club.
