18 years ago Natascha Mazurek, then a nurse in the accident and emergency department of the Frankston Hospital, watched mid thirties year old mother die on arrival due to a suspected brain haemorrhageresulting from a fall in the bathroom.  The even greater tragedy to this story was that her only child, a 3 year oldgirl sat with her for almost 3 hours before her father came home and called the ambulance. 

Natascha believes that if the daughter had any training, she would have been potentially able to save her mother’s life as she would have known what to do and would definitely not have had to sit there for three hours with no help. Natascha’s 22 years in nursing and the accident and emergency department has not been enough to dull the memory.

Natascha’s heart wrenching experience sparked a realisation that kids are simply not taught what to do in an emergency.  This, coupled with her sister Angela Quinn’s passion for teaching kids and knowing what amazing feats kids are capable of, started this adventure into business and their quest to save lives, and together they created ‘Cool Kids First Aid’. 

So far they have held 353 training sessions across Australia and educated approximately 8825 children on what to do in an emergency situation, from recognising if a patient is unconscious, how to roll them into the recovery position and call 000 in a way that they can respond to the call in the best way for the emergency services to help.

This is confirmed by 000 Operator, Craig Galbraith “I spent over 4 years as a 000 police call taker. You could tell the kids who’d had some coaching on what to do in an emergency when they called 000”.

Angela’s experience incorporates 10 years in children’s services including director of 3 child care centres as well as teaching child care,all wrapped up in her love and passion for early childhood education.

Mrs Mazurek said “The distraught child I met 18 years ago had no idea what to do in an emergency, so simply stayed by her mother’s side.”

“We believe it’s the small things that can save a life, like teaching kids how to recognise an emergency situation and how to control bleeding, rolling a person into the recovery position and how to call 000.  I know this kind of education could potentially have saved a life that day” commented Mrs Mazurek, “and this is what Cool Kids First Aid delivers”.

Company Directors Angela Quinn and Natascha Mazurek, with the help of their team, have been delivering these programs to children across Australia with overwhelmingly positive feedback.

Cool Kids First Aid started in February 2018, the first class was in July, it then expanded interstate in August and they just launched in New Zealand in March of this year.

“We knew this program was important, because there is such a lack in the market for this, however we didn’t realise the full gravity of the need until we started receiving the large volume calls for bookings” said Mrs Quinn.

“We’ve found kids love learning, and because of our experience in teaching, we have created a program that is interactive, fun and most of all engaging.  Kids get to roll their teacher over into the recovery position or call 000 on our simulation app and we always find they love the bandaging part the best” said Mrs Quinn.

An emergency kit is then left with each centre after the session, so kids can use this in their role play which further reinforces their learning.

This dynamic duo have also written a children’s book ‘What to do in an Emergency, with Lexi and Leo’ and they use this as an interactive tool in their Cool Kids First Aid lessons.

Cool Kids First Aid have created a Triple 000 Trainer App which is currently being used in classes and is now available for download on Android phones with released on Apple in the coming weeks so other children can use this app to practice calling 000 in an accurately simulated environment.