St John Ambulance SA_Annual Report 2021-2022

Annual Report 2021/22 33

St John Ambulance Australia SA Inc

TRAINING SERVICES CHAIR’S REPORT

2021/22 has been another challenging year with the unpredictability of various COVID-waves. Despite having to continue managing challenges associated with the pandemic, St John SA continues to be widely recognised for our expertise and delivery of first aid training receiving positive feedback across various community groups. I would like to congratulate the Training and Education team on being adaptable and rising up to the various challenges that came about as COVID continued to affect our daily routines. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome our new Director of Training and Education, Katrina Hansen who joined our training team during an unpredictable and interesting time. On the operational side of the organisation, we have been unable to implement training as planned. However, we have continued to maintain standards and are in the process of training numerous new recruits as well as maintaining accreditations for many existing members. The St John SA training program ensures our members are able to confidently provide services at events around the state. The launch of the eAcademy (online learning platform) in February saw the introduction of blended learning for our operations members. This has been well received by all volunteers as it reduces the amount of face-to-face training required and enables a greater focus on practical based learning. This means our operations members spend more time practicing their skills in a learning environment before utilising them at real events. In March, we launched a new Event Responder (ER) Program that aligns with the new clinical scope of practice and is fully contextualised to the role. Our first four ERs qualified in May, with many others expected to qualify in the next financial year with the 2022/23 KPI being 100 new ER’s trained. In terms of the commercial side of training, our responsibilities and commitment as responsible members of the health community have had to be balanced with our desire to maintain training. The dynamic between the two has been challenging with many organisations we train having differing views on the subject, some being more concerned about the risk of COVID being spread than others. This has led to some commercial organisations not wanting to train, whilst others acting in the opposite direction, finding our health responsible stance more restrictive than they would have liked. Despite this, we have continued to train and have explored

remote training online as well as considering ways to minimise the risk of possible COVID infection in existing training modalities. Provide First Aid 100% Online was implemented in March, 2022 with 104 participants successfully completing this training in 2021/22. Overall, the feedback received from members has been very positive about the training delivered this financial year and the efforts of our Training and Education team. Adversity spurs innovation and our thoughts on alternative ways of delivering commercial training are progressing. The possibility of bespoke courses meeting individual needs rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach to training is currently being reviewed. During 2022/23, we hope to have made progress on individual training approaches and implemented effective changes. It takes time to get all the elements lined up with a number of layers of bureaucracy to navigate, however we are nearing an alternative way of providing training, hopefully in a more effective manner. Our First Aid in Schools (FAiS) program continued to see ongoing success – 4,183 primary school students were accredited to provide lifesaving first aid, an increase from 1,826 last financial year. The program ensures children are able to be first responders in an emergency situation, covering a range of vital skills. We provided 5,228 training hours during the 2021/22 financial year as part of our FAiS program, an average of 75-minute sessions per student. I would like to conclude by paying tribute to everybody’s dedication and thank our Trainers for ‘keeping the show on the road’ while acting in a responsible manner. Without the contributions of our staff and volunteers, the work of St John SA would simply not be possible. Let’s hope the 2022/23 financial year is a little bit more straightforward and allows us to devote more energy to our development and spending less time navigating COVID hurdles and regulations.

Professor Hugh Grantham Chair of Training