A number of Conjola residents are now armed with vital first aid skills after attending a Perform First Aid Course last Saturday at Conjola Community Hall, under the watchful eyes of local facilitator Katrina Walsh.
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Katrina, an instructor from the Australian Lifesaving Academy, is a Conjola Park resident who lost her home in the 2019 bushfires.
Following a serious medical incident at Conjola Park recently, residents expressed concerns they might not know the right actions to take to deal with a first aid incident.
Utilising a generous grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal [FRRR], organised through the foundation's Monique Carlson, the Australian Lifesaving Academy enabled Katrina to train fellow local residents and supplied key first aid materials for the day.
Local residents Garry and Helen Dwyer wanted to thank FRRR for providing the funding for the course.
"There was a good balance of practical activities and information giving," Helen said.
Local resident, Di Britton, wanted to thank FRRR.
"I really appreciate FRRR's involvement. It's great to have this number of people have more first aid knowledge to potentially benefit our community," Di said.
Katrina went on to explain why the event was so important.
"Enabling locals to become confident in First Aid skills builds resilience and coping strategies," Katrina said to explain the event's importance.
"We are all thinking ahead to this summer season, where we may find ourselves cut-off from help due to road closures or other reasons.
"Even a highway crash might prevent emergency services from reaching our area in a timely way. The more skills our locals can have the better, we can help each other with the benefit of high-level training and practice."
Extra wellbeing support was organised in consultation with Shoalhaven City Council's Recovery Outreach Officer, Janis Gordon.
Katrina would also like to thank the two Disaster Recovery Specialist Clinicians, Bronwyn and Mandy, who attended on the day to support residents.
"As an additional bonus for Conjola Park, Treading Lightly has provided funding for an Automated External Defibrillator [AED] to be located at HoyLake Park," Katrina said.
"Treading Lightly was very prompt in responding to my request to consider funding for the AED.
"We are grateful for their support of our locals and visitors, arranged through Monica Mudge and her energetic Treading Lightly Team."
The organisation of the erection of the AED in its housing is currently with Shoalhaven Council, with the plan that the AED will be ready for use as soon as possible.
"Thanks also to local resident Glen Congram from Just First Aid who supplied the AED," Katrina said.
"Once installed, anyone can use it - just open the casing, push the button and listen to the prompts.
"I call it a doctor in a box."
