The Canadian Red Cross continues to be a national leader in First Aid and Water Safety training. In 2019-20, more than 164,000 Albertans participated in Swimming and Water Safety courses and another 130,900 people learned vital first aid skills in the province.
In October, Red Cross in Alberta hosted its tenth annual Water Safety Conference, which drew 90 aquatic professionals and trainers from across the country. Highlights included a new training session for instructors about inclusive language use and the introduction of the new Psychological First Aid (PFA) course.
The popular PFA course was designed to meet a gap in Canadian first aid training, explains Kevin Paes, then manager of Training Partner Development for Red Cross.
“A big chunk of the course focusses on self care,” he says. “It’s about being able to recognize that a person is in trauma and having a mental health challenge because of an event, and then knowing how to recognize that and take care of yourself.”
As well, about 46,900 Albertans participated in Respect Education workshops in 2019-20, as people learned about healthy youth relationships, sexual violence prevention and standing up to bullying.
In the summer of 2019, the Indigenous Swimming and Water Safety program more than doubled its size from the previous year, reaching 415 participants.
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