Media Advisory/Spokesperson Availability: One third of Canadian households have no first aid training

Confidence is low in first aid abilities of Canadian children

TORONTO, Sept. 7, 2016 /CNW/ - According to a recent survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Canadian Red Cross, not all Canadian households are adequately prepared with First Aid training in the event of an emergency. World First Aid Day, a day to highlight the importance of first aid training in preventing injuries and saving lives, takes place this September 10.

"All members of a household, including children, should feel confident in their ability to act in an emergency," says Don Marentette, Director First Aid Programs for the Canadian Red Cross. "Children can be overlooked when it comes to learning about first aid and safety. By empowering children through informal conversations and formal training, we can instill the confidence to act when a family member or peer is in need of help."

The survey found that:

• 36% of Canadians say they have no one living in their household who is trained in first aid.
• Despite that finding, 75% of Canadians say they are confident that they would know what to do about the emergency situation, if they saw someone fall off a ladder or slip on some ice.
• Only 12% of Canadians feel very confident that a child in their life could help them if they collapsed.
• 92% of Canadians believe children should start learning about first aid and how to help people in their community as early as 9 years old.

Don Marentette is available to share first aid tips and speak to survey findings on and leading up to World First Aid Day. Canadian Red Cross spokespeople based in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada are also available to accommodate local interviews.

About the Canadian Red Cross
As the leading provider of prevention and safety training in the country, the Canadian Red Cross trains 2.48 million Canadians in first aid, swimming lessons and violence and abuse prevention. Visit www.redcross.ca for First Aid training courses for adults, children and youth.

About the Survey
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between August 30 and September 1, 2016, on behalf of Canadian Red Cross. For this survey, a sample of 1,005 Canadians from Ipsos' online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval.  In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ - 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

SOURCE Canadian Red Cross

or to schedule an interview contact: Media Line: 1-877-599-9602, Quebec Media Line: 1-888-418-9111