<h2>As a school principal on a remote island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Sarah Rowe was more than just a teacher.</h2>
<p>Locals queried her for banking help, she did the cleaning and when someone had a sudden bad turn of health, she was called on to provide the first aid response.</p>
<p>Although first aid and CPR training is not compulsory for teachers in the Northern Territory, Sarah believes it is invaluable, especially in remote communities.</p>
<p>Sarah was a teaching-principal for two years at Milyakburra School on Bickerton Island, a remote Aboriginal community near Groote Eylandt.</p>
<p>The tiny school usually has up to 15 students from an island population of between 80 and 100 people.</p>
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<p>“The island had a clinic but has no nurses and hospital staff living there,” says Sarah.</p>
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<p>“They would visit about once a week from Groote Eylandt but the rest of the time there was no medical staff and that’s why it was important to do first aid.”</p>
<p>Sarah, the classroom teacher and two assistant teachers from the Indigenous community took the initiative to complete a two-day first aid and CPR course provided by Red Cross.</p>
<p>The skills that were learnt and refreshed during the training were later put into practice to treat a jellyfish sting to adult staff during a school excursion to the beach.</p>
<p>On two occasions Sarah was also approached by Indigenous locals when a resident adult suffered a sudden health issue.</p>
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<p>“On one occasion I was still working on emails and administration when people came up to the school and said ‘We need you’ and I was taken to the home of a community member,” says Sarah.</p>
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<p>“I didn’t know it at the time but the patient had suffered a stroke. I performed CPR until the family asked me to stop.</p>
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<p>“Another time over the holidays someone collapsed from a heart attack and they came to my place because they knew I had done first aid,” she says.</p>
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<p>“Again I performed CPR with the help of a parent until the CareFlight helicopter arrived.”</p>
<p>Sarah encourages all schools to consider the value of first aid training for teachers and staff, saying it is a potentially lifesaving skill that could be called upon at any time.</p>
<p>“You might not be teaching in a remote community but you never know when first aid or CPR might be needed,” she says.</p>
<p>“When I had to perform CPR I knew what I needed to do and I just did it.”</p>

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