Specialty course offers parents key CPR techniques for children

It’s a situation no parent ever wants to be confronted with – finding your child face down in the backyard pool.

The biggest and most common mistake is “people waiting, people thinking that they just have to wait for the paramedics to arrive,” according to Nicole Ovens from CPR Kids.

That’s why they’ve launched their specialty course in Brisbane, teaching parents the different techniques of performing CPR on children, as opposed to an adult.

“It only takes 20 seconds for an unsupervised child to get into trouble,” paediatrician Dr Chris Toumpas said.

“Those first few minutes are absolutely vital.”

First-time parents Fiona and Dane Cunningham took part in the first course at the Greenslopes Private Hospital on Sunday.

Ms Cunningham is expecting her first son in just two weeks and thinks “you can never be too prepared.”

Her partner added it was important to learn how little breath and compression you need when performing CPR on a child as opposed to an adult.

The three-hour course is now expected to be run monthly in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast.

It isn’t just for parents though, with grandparents Anne and John Blyth taking away some very useful tips from today’s first class.

“These days with the cost of child care there are so many grandparents that are stepping into that role,” Mr Blyth told 9NEWS.

He said couldn’t imagine anything worse than losing his own grandchild as a result of simply not knowing what to do.

For more information or to enrol in a course click here.