CPR for everyone 

When someone needs urgent CPR, it shouldn’t matter whether it’s a man or a woman. At least that’s what was thought until a study earlier this year revealed that women are almost 30% less likely to receive CPR in public until the ambulance arrives. According to various sources, this is due to:

• Potentially inappropriate touching or exposure/ fear of being accused of sexual assault
• Fear of causing physical injury
• The misconception that breasts make CPR more challenging
• Poor recognition of women in cardiac arrest ( specifically a perception that women are less likely to have heart problem)

Training for CPR and learning about gender

During CPR training, concerns of accusations of sexual assault or inappropriate touching were cited twice as many times by men as by women, while more women mentioned fear of causing injury.

The above fears are culturally rooted in a vision of the female body as a sexual object. This has left the community with grave misconceptions that have affected women in many ways. One of these is women receiving less CPR when needed in public places.
To start taking care of this issue the Womanikin was created in an attempt to normalise performing CPR on women. The Womanikin was created to replicate a woman’s body so instructors and learners can become more familiar and comfortable in performing CPR on a woman.

At Fluid First Aid is for everyone

At Fluid First Aid we provide CPR training for individuals, small businesses, professionals, and corporations. In an effort to start debating this issue, and changing reality for the better, we have incorporated the Womanikin to our CPR training so our learners can overcome any fear or prejudice and be prepared to assist women in a cardiac arrest (unconscious and not breathing) by performing CPR.

Interviewed about the decision on introducing the womanikin at Fluid First Aid training sessions, one of the directors, Gayle Guthrie, said: “The womanikin offers us a tool to start a conversation, to explore the bias/ fears about providing CRP to women and to work with learners through their obstacles so they are ready to act in any cardiac emergency, that it is our primary goal”  A woman, or anyone for that matter, should never struggle to receive any kind of CPR or First Aid assistance, least of all when it’s urgent.

Whether it due to gender, age, size, or whatever variable you can think of, everyone deserves to be treated equally and to achieve that, the Womanikin, is a good first step in highlighting and eliminate fears bias and urban myths so that women will receive bystander CPR when required. Fluid has incorporated this topic in our training, in order to work towards the elimination of these issues so that women who are unconscious and not breathing normally, will receive CPR.

Be part of the change

You can help to reverse the misconceptions of providing CPR for women by Booking your Fluid First Aid CPR training today. Become confident with CPR practices and have them ready for whenever and wherever they’re needed. You can become part of our changing world, and more importantly, you could potentially save lives!

We also help you learn skills for different First Aid emergencies: a snake bite, a bleeding wound, a burn, etc.

Saving lives is priceless so Book your Fluid First Aid Course today!

Training done differently: have fun, save time & leave confident