Free Life Saving Education for Low Income Parents
Infant and Child First Aid is an essential skill that can mean the difference between life and death when your child is injured, but is not affordable and accessible to everyone.
Injury has replaced disease as the leading cause of hospitalisation and death in Australian children. Each year approximately 150 children die and over 60,000 are admitted to hospital due to a serious unintentional injury.
Grace and Skye Larson are sisters, and mothers, who believe first aid knowledge should be available to everyone, no matter their financial means. That is why they are starting The Sisterhood Project, a charity organisation offering free infant first aid education to parents who cannot afford it.
Grace Larson, Paediatric Intensive Care nurse of 14 years said that First Aid training is widely available in Victoria, but it can be very expensive.
“First aid courses start at around $90 and some can be as high as $140. For some people, that cost is far too high when they can barely afford to pay for housing, food and other essential items,” Grace said.
First Aid can provide parents with the skills to stabilise their child until emergency medical services arrive, and could prevent rapid deterioration, ultimately saving their life.
“Throughout my career I have seen first-hand the huge impact knowing First Aid can have on the survival of infants and children,” Grace said.
“I have also seen the unfair disadvantage many low income and vulnerable parents have when it comes to affording this training. That is why I asked my sister to start up this charity with me. So we can make a real difference in the outcome of childhood injuries,” she said.
Grace and Skye are fundraising the start-up costs to form The Sisterhood Project into a foundation so they can start helping low income parents as soon as possible.
“Your money will go towards setting up our incorporated foundation, creating a website, and other start-up costs so we can begin funding infant and child First Aid courses for low income and vulnerable Victorian parents and carers,” Grace said.
Please help us reduce the rates of childhood death from injury in Victoria. Please donate to help us fund our start-up costs to make a difference.
To donate visit www.gofundme.com/free-life-saving-education-for-low-income-parents