Target Population Drowning Prevention Project
Indigenous Drowning Prevention Program
The purpose of our ‘Target Population Drowning Prevention Project’ is to introduce the Swim and Survive Program within Indigenous groups in Western Australia.
The prevention of drowning amongst Australian Aboriginals has been identified as a priority. The Australian Water Safety Plan 2004-07 has made it clear that greater effort and new ways to effectively address the problem need to be found.
A review of drowning data over the past 5 years indicates limited water safety awareness combined with alarmingly low participation levels in swimming and water safety programs as key factors.
During 2005 in Western Australia 47% of drownings occurred in regional areas. Drownings in regional areas are over represented in comparison to population distribution.
The Royal Life Saving Society run “Have a go days”, swimming & lifesaving carnivals specifically designed to meet the needs of Aboriginal youth within the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions of Western Australia.
The “Have a go day” is essentially a swimming and water safety session involving a water safety information talk and a practical swimming and lifesaving carnival component. This carnival component includes obstacle relays, rescue races and rope rescues ensuring all activities are great fun and quite often new experiences for the children but have a serious outcome of learning lifesaving skills essential to their immediate environment.
The “Have a go day” program is based on the Royal Life Saving Societies Swim & Survive program that is designed to provide essential swimming, water safety and survival skills to prepare children for a lifetime of safe activity in, on or around the water.
Furthermore, Aboriginal communities are predominantly not the focus of education and training programs due to accessibility, language and cultural barriers. In light of this, important health information is not always adequately provided to Aboriginal groups.
RLSSA through consultation with specific community, ethnic and settlement services will deliver 24 Heart Beat Club’s over a 6 month period, each identified service will host 4 Heart Beat Clubs. The Heart Beach Club is an informal program that provides the essential life skills of drowning prevention and resuscitation skills. The base course content incorporates;
Furthermore, the Heart Beat Club can be tailored to suit the individual needs of the participating group. For instance, a group of young mothers may request information specifically related to dangers in their immediate environment, in this case RLSSA will focus the training on drowning hazards and first aid requirements specifically in and around the home. Additionally, cultural groups may identify other areas of concern, thereby empowering the group to take ownership of the program and subsequently mould the course content to suit their individual learning requirements, improving self determination and self help.
Royal Life Saving continue to develop Indigenous training resources and water safety awareness paraphernalia to promote the importance of learning and participating in swimming and water safety activities for the many positive health related outcomes.
History has shown the outstanding success of the Swim & Survive Program with its many facets of water safety, survival skills and first aid components. Since its introduction in 1982 drowning rates in Australia for 5-14 year olds have fallen from 7.1 to 0.85 (per 100,000 population). This reduction is probably not equaled or bettered in any part of the world and can be directly attributed to the work of the Swim & Survive program.
For further information on culturally appropriate Indigenous programs and events, please contact the Royal Life Saving Society: 9383 8200
Learn more about our Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Programs
