CPR Training For MPs

Wellington Free Ambulance

Thursday, May 4, 2000

A Skill Well Worth Learning

SPEECH BY THE HON. ANNETTE KING

MINISTER FOR HEALTH

Good morning. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be here today with my colleagues for this important training event.

As my colleagues know, Parliament can be a somewhat fraught environment in which to work. Anything to make it safer is something I support. When this course is completed, it should certainly be safer. At least 10 percent of MPs will be able to come to the rescue in future if one of us finds the going too tough.

I'm not going to make any political comments today. CPR is apolitical. All the MPs here, whatever party they belong to, are well aware of the valuable role ambulance providers like the Wellington Free Ambulance Service play in terms of emergency services. Some 305,000 people are transported each year by ambulance in New Zealand.

Less well known are the other services provided by ambulance services. Wellington Free Ambulance provides and monitors alarms for the elderly, industrial safety, attends special events and conducts training in first aid such as this course today.

CPR is a particularly important procedure in the first aid repertoire since it is often one of the first lifesaving actions that can be taken in an emergency by any of us, provided we have received the training to do it properly. It is a skill we should all want to learn, even if we all hope we will never be called on to use it.

The issue of first aid training and in particular CPR training is something that ambulance services and health professionals generally are keen to keep in the public eye. I hope more people in the community think about doing their bit and come along to these sorts of training sessions.

I know that we will all get something valuable from today’s CPR training and perhaps some MPs will think about further first aid training as well. I look forward to this session as a start though.

Finally, let me say thank you to the Wellington Free Ambulance officers for the long hard work you put in on a daily basis. I know that it is appreciated by all of us here, as well as everyone who has needed or may need ambulance services in future.

ENDS

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