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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Are you Scouting people or are you St John Ambulance
people?
We teach our First Aid classes as members of the Scout Training Area of St John Ambulance Australia (NSW). St John
Ambulance Australia (NSW) has a Training Branch, managed by the General Manager – Training. Scout Training Area (or just
'Scout Area') is part of the Training Branch. Our Trainers are members of St John Ambulance Australia (NSW), and have undertaken
First Aid Training in first aid and training techniques with St John Ambulance's Training Branch, leading to their accreditation
as Trainers. Part of that accreditation also stems from maintaining first aid qualifications in Advanced First Aid or both
Advanced Life Support and Remote Area First Aid. The performance of our Trainers is reassessed by St John every two years, and
they have to meet specified professional development objectives every year. Incidentally, the level of training our Trainers have
undertaken with St John fulfils the requirements within Scouting for them to qualify immediately as Activities Instructors.
The members of the First Aid Team are also Scout or Guide Leaders, and we have extensive experience in the Cub Scout, Scout,
Venturer and Activities sections. Some still hold section leadership roles, while others hold Regional Leader (Activities) roles.
One is a medical practitioner, and several have other medical roles and credentials.
The First Aid Team was formed within Sydney North Region in the 1990s, and has grown to encompass three Scouting Regions and
has influence beyond. So we have become known as the Scouts' First Aid Team.
Besides teaching First Aid, our Team provides valuable first aid support to Scouting activities, such as Dragon Skin, Scout
Hike, and the Sirius Cup Regatta.
2. Where is
Barra Brui?
The scheduled classes in Scouting's Sydney North Region are conducted at Barra Brui Scout Hall, off Hunter Avenue,
behind Barra Brui Oval, at St Ives. The access to the hall is by a narrow sealed road leaving the south side of Hunter
Avenue, St Ives, near a red post box in Hunter Avenue, just west of Yarrabung Road. Access is normally closed by a locked
slip rail, but should be open when you arrive to attend a first aid class. Beyond the gateway, the access road travels to
the right (south) of a large water main pipe, passes to the right (south) of 2nd St Ives Scout Hall, and continues to a
large turning circle and car pack in front of Barra Brui Scout Hall. Inside the hall, proceed through the large front room
to the carpeted room at the rear for our first aid classes.
Street Directory References:
Gregory's Map 101 Reference K2
UBD Map 175 Reference C2
Google Maps: Barra Brui Scout Hall is on the block south of 15 Hunter Avenue, beyond the Sydney Water easement.
We send 'enrolment emails' to those who have booked into
first aid classes at Barra Brui, generally about three weeks prior to the classes. These enrolment emails provide further
information about class times, what to wear, what to bring, how to find the venue (including a rough map of the access
described above), and how to comply with Scouting's A1 (Activity Notification) Form requirements.
3. Where are First Aid classes in
South Metropolitan Region
held?
The classes are based at South Metropolitan Region's Activities Hall at 68 Restwell Street, Bankstown, just
south of Bankstown Railway Station in the block south of Stanley Street. Parking places in Restwell Street have time limits.
Free parking is available in a Council car park behind the building; the access to the Council car park is from Stanley
Street. The outdoor components of Remote Area First Aid classes are at bush sites in the vicinity.
Street Directory References:
Gregory's Map 186 Reference H10
UBD Map 35 Reference J8
Google Maps: 68 Restwell Street, Bankstown.
4. If I perform first aid in public, surely I can be sued?
We are not legally qualified, and don't set out to give legal advice, but St John has investigated this situation, and
these are St John's findings:
Each of Australia's States has enacted legislation to protect those members of the public who, acting in good faith,
attempt to relieve the distress of others by rendering first aid. In NSW, the legislation is called the 'Civil Liability
Amendment (Personal Responsibility) Bill 2002', and part 8 covers the actions of 'Good Samaritans'.
The responsibility of the first aider depends on whether a duty of care is owed. If so, the first aider must apply first
aid skills in a responsible and reasonable manner, by applying just the knowledge and skills gained by first aid training,
no more and no less. For negligence to be established against the first aider, all of these things must apply:
– a duty of care existed between the first aider and the casualty, and
– the first aider failed to exercise reasonable care and attention in applying first aid, and
– the casualty suffered additional damage, and
– the damage resulted from the actions of the first aider.
To avoid being charged with assault:
– obtain consent, where possible, before applying first aid, but if the casualty is unconscious, consent is
implied, and
– if the casualty is under 18 years, obtain consent from the casualty's parent or guardian, and
– don't apply first aid if consent is refused.
So, as long as one acts responsibly, there are safeguards to protect the first aider.
Recognising that this is a topic of some apprehension amongst prospective first aiders, St John Ambulance has included this
topic in their Apply First Aid course.
Be reassured.
5. A driver has lost control of his car, and the car has
become wrapped around a tree. What are the driver's chances of being rescued?
Surveys by St John Ambulance have found that only 8% of the Australian population have any first aid skills. Of the next
12 people to pass by that accident scene, only one, on average, has skills that could help that seriously injured driver.
It could be that the driver has struck his head on the steering wheel, and become unconscious. His head has fallen forward
in his unconscious state so that his chin is resting on his chest. His airway is blocked. He will die in only a few minutes
without help. From your first aid course, you learned about the importance of an open airway, and you carefully raise his
head and tie it with a bandage around his forehead back around the head rest. His neck is now in the normal straight
position and he can breathe again. You have probably saved his life, a very different scenario to what would have occurred
if you had been one of the other eleven instead. By doing a first aid course, you improved his chances of rescue. Good on you!
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Links
1. Reading
Portable Document Format Files (PDFs)
The class-specific booking forms on this site, and the Scout Activity Notification (A1) Forms you may be required to
access, are PDFs. PDFs are used so that the layout the originator intended is what you see on your screen. It is
unaffected by the preferences you have in your word processing software, such as Microsoft Word. You need to have
installed a PDF Reader on your computer to read PDF files.
A very popular PDF Reader is the present incarnation of the original Adobe Reader – Adobe invented the PDF.
Adobe Reader can be directly downloaded from
Adobe's web site, free of charge.
However, it is large (more than 50MB) even without the add-on McAfee software, and is slow to load. On the plus side,
it handles all the complexity that PDFs can offer, and produces a very sharp image on the screen.
A credible alternative is Foxit Reader, again a free download, a rather more compact 6.7MB, from the
Foxit Corporation web site.
Foxit Reader is faster, and hasn't any intrusive add-ons, but some say the rendering of pages is not quite as sharp.
It's hard to tell the difference.
2. Scouts Activity Notification (A1) Form
Scouts Australia requires us to use the A1 form in addition to our booking form, saying that it ensures the candidates
are able to make informed decisions as to whether to attend a class, and provides medical information at its most relevant
time: as the class commences.
The A1 form is available from the
href="../forms/access-scout-forms.php?access_file=scout-forms"Scouts Australia (NSW Branch) Forms web site
. The actual A1 form,
version 01/10, is a 142kB download. Beware: The form loads slowly, even on fast computers.
3.
St John Ambulance Australia (NSW)
The St John site tells about "ordinary people doing extraordinary things": how you can volunteer, how you can
attend one of their first aid classes, shows the content of the classes they and we offer, and has a shop where you can
buy a first aid kit or replenish the one you have.
4.
St John Ambulance Australia (NSW) First Aid Kits
Remember that St John offers a 10% discount on the price of a first aid kit when it is purchased in conjunction with
attending a first aid class. The "Instructor" gets a 5% commission. So if you buy a kit soon after attending one
of our classes, be sure to provide the class number on the form (the "Class ID" on your receipt), and as
"Instructor", write "Scout Area", so that our First Aid Team gets the commission, because we will
apply it to improving our support of the Scouting and Guiding communities.
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