Amanda Barr 0:00
Music. Hello friends. I'm Amanda Barr and I'm Rebecca Lew Brennan, and welcome to Dance principles united the podcast together. We are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio Join us as we talk everything from marketing, systems, studio culture, motherhood, life and everything in between. This is the dance principles united. Podcast, Hi friends and welcome to the dance principles united. Podcast, I am so excited to be joined here by Caitlin from Dance aid. Hi Caitlin, thanks for joining us.
Unknown Speaker 0:37
Hi Amanda, thanks for having me.
Amanda Barr 0:39
So excited to have you here. You are a wealth of knowledge in all things first aid for dancers, and I know that so many of our listeners will get so much out of this chat, so I'm super excited. So do you want to tell me a little bit about yourself and how you fell into first aid for dancers?
Speaker 1 1:00
Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up dancing and spending a lot of time in the studio, and it was such a passion for of mine. And I loved, loved my dancing years, and then it sort of came down to, you know, you finished school, what are you going to do? I went on and started studying dancing. So I started a full time course here in Adelaide. And then not too long into that course, I actually got injured, so I took a break from it, and then, unfortunately, I just, I never went back and picked it up. So from there, I went and studied nursing. I did my nursing degree, and I still, you know, was sort of doing recreational dance on the side and staying a part of the industry. But I Yeah, went and studied so nursing, and I've been a cardiac specific nurse for the last 10 plus years.
Amanda Barr 1:51
Oh, wow, that's different.
Speaker 1 1:53
Yeah, I know it's definitely a very big area of passion of mine as well cardiac specific. So I'm all the heart, and I have, yeah, some extra qualifications in it. I then maybe I've, sort of four or five years ago, I was looking for a bit of a career change. I had had, I've just had some kids as well. So I've got two little girls, and I, you know, was really wanting to come back to that dance, you know, my dance passion. So had a chat with Gabrielle Robinson, the director at Empower dance here in Adelaide, who's an RTO and runs certificate courses in National Qualifications, and that's part of those courses. You know, first aid is a core course subject and mandatory. So we thought, why don't we, you know, put our heads together and come up with something that's more specific in a first aid course, and And ever since, I've just jumped straight in and have loved it. So it's blending my two passions, again, of dance and nursing into into dance aid, which is first aid. I love
Amanda Barr 2:59
that so much. And, you know, that's super interesting, because you've obviously had a background, I presume you've worked in hospitals and all of the things and and seen, you know, obviously some very serious things, if you're working as a cardiac nurse. But then to kind of come back to this, you know, incredible world that we all absolutely love. You know, we're all such passionate dancers. It's like, it's born and bred, like, you know what? I mean, it's just part of our soul. Yeah, I love that. And I love this specificness of, you know, having, you know, a first aid, course, that's just for dancers, because, like, there's specific things we need to talk about, right? Yeah,
Speaker 1 3:39
absolutely. And that was part of it, you know, having a specific course that's relatable and people want to do, I feel, you know, first AIDS got that stigma of, it's just a tick box and it's boring, it's not relevant. It's a big commitment, you know, a day or two, often in the classroom as well. So I was super excited for the challenge to write something that was going to be well received and be accessible and relatable for people to be able to do, which, yes, as how dance aid sort of came about as well.
Amanda Barr 4:12
That's amazing, and that's so amazing that you can offer that through Empower dance to all the amazing people doing, you know, their RTO programs and all of that. Because, as you said, like, I gotta be honest. Obviously, I've done lots of first aid courses, as we all have, and sometimes you're just sitting there going, this is so boring, especially when I've gone to a few times I've been to, you know, ones in Wollongong near me, and you know they're talking about, like, work place safety with, like, heavy machinery, for example. And I'm like, Oh, this is boring. This is not what I need as a teacher or a studio owner. And I love that there's something that's more specific to that.
Speaker 1 4:52
Yeah, absolutely. So because we've written it, we've been able to, you know, obviously it's a national qualification, and it's standardized. Right? So it has to have certain it has to have snake bites, and it has to have stuff that obviously isn't super relevant to us, but I can, you know, make snake bites, this tiny little bit of it, and exactly, we can just touch on that, and I can make the injury section and and things that is more relevant, you know, this big, and spend a lot more time on it. So and most first aid courses have to be generalized, because they have people coming in from all different walks of life, and, you know, different careers and industry. So that's why we thought there was such a need for it.
Amanda Barr 5:38
That's so good, because hopefully we are not treating too many snake bites in our studios, because can you imagine, oh my god, actually,
Speaker 1 5:47
I get to travel the country, obviously, with it, and see everyone. And I have had a few stories of people saying we have actually had a snake in the studio, and we've had a snake outside, I know, so maybe some of the Queensland studios and WA still, you know, could be relevant. So
Amanda Barr 6:06
you never know, right? We deal with in our studios, so obviously, you know, in the training, you've been able to really specify and get more specific on things like injuries, because, you know, there's obviously common injuries that we see in our studios a lot, right?
Speaker 1 6:24
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So, yeah, injuries I cover, try and cover all of the main ones. So, you know, obviously a lot of hip and back and also knee and ankle injuries, something that we're ever seeing more So nowadays, with the acro, you know, style coming into our industry. A lot more, we're actually seeing bone bruising and also some concussions and head knocks and things. So some things that we don't even think about, you know, we know the soft tissue stuff, right? And we're usually all over that when someone twists their knee or does an ankle or whatever. But some of the more sort of physical stuff, like the acro that's bringing in more bone bruising and concussions and things that dislocations and fractures are growing as well because of it a little bit. So of course, they're sort of the main sort of injuries that we're seeing at the moment,
Amanda Barr 7:17
absolutely. And you know, at my studio, we had all starch here as well. So the concussions was a big thing for me, always making sure my staff were trained well, because that can be so serious moving forward, it absolutely
Speaker 1 7:31
can, and you we've seen it in the media. So there's a lot of Concussion Awareness, mainly around that physical contact sport, you know, so like footing and Ruggie, so not super relevant to us, but it is in terms of, you know, that
Amanda Barr 7:44
it is an all star. Yeah, yeah, yep, the
Speaker 1 7:47
cheer and the acro you know, if they're doing the same movement, or getting having a repetitive motion, or or flies and things that they're potentially going to fall on their heads. So, and it is that one that goes under the radar, in terms of, it might not happen instantly. So we need that education and awareness to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms after the fact, you know, for a few days and even weeks, and also be educated to be able to hand over and tell that kids next to kin or parents to be looking out for this because they, you know, fell on their head, or they got a foot to the head in contemporary or whatever. That handover,
Amanda Barr 8:20
yeah, that handover that you had a really big part, Yep, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And you know, for me as a teacher, you know, I always felt confident, like you said, around, you know, sprained ankles, twisted ankle, like that kind of stuff. I felt confident with the things that always worried me, and I presume that a lot of teachers and studio owners say this more so now, is the anaphylactic shocks, you know, things like that that can happen to students so easily. That is obviously very serious. Obviously, asthma attacks were all kind of, you know, used to, because they've kind of but like that. You know, the amount of kids we had EpiPens on standby for, like all of that, that's a lot to navigate. Yeah,
Speaker 1 9:08
absolutely. So we know that now the statistics are one in 10 kids has an anaphylactic reaction to food. Has a real allergy. Yes, one in 10. So if you know, you haven't got many at the studio at the minute, it's going to grow in the next few years. So it's just how our environment and things are happening that these food allergies are becoming ever prevalent, and it's going away from just the basic nuts. It's key. Kiwi is a huge one. Kiwi, at the moment, is a big allergen. Yeah, yeah, for some reason, so it's we need to empower people to not be scared and not be afraid of the EpiPen and and know what to do. Because a lot of the time we've got little people who might not be able to do it themselves, or we might have a bigger, you know, teenage kids who who might be afraid because it's in. Needle, or they might be too unwell, they might have progressed their own fluxes to a point where they can't actually get their pen out and give it to themselves. So we need to be all across it. Yeah,
Amanda Barr 10:10
absolutely. And I think that's like, it's such a big thing. And obviously, you know, there's so many things to cover, and you're obviously trying to cover, you know, the most frequent, I guess, in there, and make sure everyone's comfortable, you know. And that can be hard because there's so many things to cover so many children. Like, I'm just thinking, and like, this is my personal story, so this is obviously a little bit different, but my daughter's quite a severe epileptic, and so we have, you know, anti seizure meds and emergency rescue meds to give her, and that's a lot she spends. She's at the she's only six, she's at the studio, seven hours a week, eight hours a week by herself. And I don't really want to sit there, so it's a lot like and I think just, obviously, you're not training on every single possible thing, but it's nice to kind of see, like the framework of how it something's, you know, taught to then know when, when a child like my daughter, who has quite a specific illness, you know, it's nice to know that, you then, kind of know, okay, well, this is what I had to do For anaphylaxis, for example, I probably need to do the same things. I don't know is that that's kind of how I would see it as well.
Speaker 1 11:26
Yeah, absolutely. And every every child and every situation is different as well. So, you know, absolutely, your your daughter would have an, uh, sorry, an uh, epilepsy care plan, like action plan, yes. So that might be that would differ to, you know, another child that's got epilepsy. So it's about knowing that every kid's got a different thing, and there isn't a first aid, one fix. You know, people want like this is what I do, then this is what I do. But unfortunately, it's got to be a bit fluid and knowing what to do and what questions to ask. But I do do sessions just with studio. So I do private studio sessions, and in those sessions, that's when they can ask their specifics. So I had this child with these, yeah, exactly. I went to a studio recently who has a child who's on oxygen, so she needs to have oxygen, and they have been amazing and welcomed her into their studio. And she's dancing, she's doing two ballet classes, and she's even prepping for an exam, or she's working towards an exam, but they just had some questions around the oxygen, you know, tubing and the oxygen that like, where the oxygen connections are, and all those sorts of things. So I was able to, I guess, alleviate some of their fear behind it, and the parents have obviously educated them too, but the parents obviously their first point of contact, but they sort of, for them, it's their every day, so they just brush over it, and it's like, oh yeah. Just hope this, that's what I do, yeah. Like, if she's a bit short of breath, just crank up the oxygen. But I guess, as you know, when you only see it a couple of times a week you want to make sure that you're all across it and and because you don't have to, you know, necessarily have an incident or respond every every time they're in, you just Yeah. So that's when you can say, I've got it. I've got a lot of kids with diabetes. I've got a lot of kids with epilepsy. We're seeing this kind of injury. We're seeing this. And in those sessions, I can break it down and really tailor it to you as a studio.
Amanda Barr 13:23
I love that so much and, and as you said, like, you know, that's that interesting thing, and it's just clicking for me, because I'm totally that mum that you just talked about as a mom. I'm like, yeah, yeah, you know, just give it this emergency man, like, because it's my reality, and it's every day, and it's, you know, that's just how it is in my life, but you know, for teachers at a studio who aren't confident, I love that that you can ask more specific questions, but also just you know, like you were saying the care plan, because so many kids have care plans for so many different diagnoses, but just even knowing how to read a care plan and how to you know, how to store them, how to follow them, all of that. I think that's, yeah, so so beneficial. Talking of that, like, can we talk about, like, what are the legal requirements for studios, I guess, to start with, and then, like, teachers in a studio and like, their first aid requirements?
Speaker 1 14:17
Yeah, absolutely. So it differs a little bit from state to state and territory, etc, so everyone's got a little bit of different legislation. But as we know, our industry isn't regulated as such. So there isn't a regulatory body who is mandating first aid across our studios, which blows my mind a bit, and I'm on the passion wheel for this. Because, you know, in every other education setting across our country, you know, working with children and first aid is a no brainer, and it's mandated, you know, so why is it not necessarily for us? There is first aid requirements, though, when it comes under the Work Health and Safety acts. So, yes. Um, you know, as a business and as a studio owner, you've got certain requirements to and a duty of care to provide first aid and first aid kits and and be trained. And it depends on, sometimes it depends on the size of the organization as well. So if you have a certain amount of people, you know, you're required to have a certain amount of First Aiders within that space. So I'm really trying to change the way we look at that. And it's super important that not just the studio owner has first aid, that everyone in the studio has first aid. So, you know, I'm talking about the assistant and student teachers who are there, the senior students, even who help backstage with the little kiddies, you know, at concert time, the admin staff, the parent helpers, you know, all of the teachers we know with first aid, even if it's a minor thing, that time and that first response is critical. So we, we don't want to, you know, dilly dally, and just because you're the studio owner and you're there all the time, you know, you live there and you're easily accessible. You know, we want to be empowering all of all of our staff to have that training and knowledge, to be able to respond. And also, it builds trust. And it's, you know, works on out that safe environment. It's good for business, trust with the parents. And you know, if you have a new student that comes with epilepsy or diabetes, and as the teacher on day one, you're like, where's their plan, and what are their symptoms, and what should I be looking out for, and what do I do? And just, you know, double check with the parent, they're going to feel so much confidence in you as that as their teacher, the kid, their kids teacher, to be able to respond, and they're going to be so happy to sign up to more classes and leave them there for longer. Absolutely,
Amanda Barr 16:43
it's that funny thing. You know, one of my big passions, I guess, you know, we all have our thing that we're passionate about is that dance studios are real businesses. They're not a hobby, it's not a club, it's not a, you know, it's a real business. But you can't take the good parts of that and ignore the bits that you don't. You can't pick and choose which bits you're using of that. I think that's so important. I see that sometimes, like, you can't go, oh, I want to be a real business and charge this much, but I'm not going to have a first aid officer on site like, you know, we've got to have all of the parts going to be considered a real business and to be seen legitimate through our clients at eyes. You know, it's important?
Speaker 1 17:21
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that even though there might not specifically be that legal requirement for every single person, you know, the opera that works at the studio, to have the first aid, it's going to help if something were to happen. And you know, someone comes back with legal action. You know, there's the duty of care act and good samaritan acts across the country that that cover you if you've got first aid, you know, if you've got first aid training, and you render first aid assistance, you know, no one can come back and say, Hey, you actually did harm, or you did this, or, you know, whatever it might be. So it's super important that we've got that to fall back on. And we have been trained. I know what to do, and I was just doing my best at the time. Absolutely,
Amanda Barr 18:01
I love that you said that as well about, you know, I think so many people go, Oh, just the studio owner has it, because she's always there. But I just always would have in the back of my head, yeah, she's always there, except that one night that she was off sick, that was literally the one night of the year that something important and something big happened, and you had these staff there, these young teachers, or whatever, that didn't know the appropriate response, both first aid, but also, like, in a systems point of view, like, you know, do they know how to contact the parent? Do they know, like, who the first port of call is and what to do and how to do, you know, an injury report sheet or whatever that is in the business? Like, yeah, I just It can't just all be in your head.
Speaker 1 18:42
No, it absolutely can't. It absolutely can't. We're setting everyone up for success if we're training properly, right? So as a studio owner, it should be the first thing you're doing, you know, booking your staff into a group session to upskill. And it's, you know, professional development, absolutely.
Amanda Barr 18:59
How often do people have to renew their first aid? Yeah.
Speaker 1 19:02
So first full first aid is required every three years, and that's because things change, you know, better. Evidence comes out that says we need to change the way we do something, so we need to be doing it every three years. And then there's a recommended CPR yearly update, you know. Yeah. So we know that obviously we can't practice or rehearse CPR in real life situations, so that's why, every year, we'd love to get you on the mannequins. And, you know, just getting that rhythm and getting back into it and just being confident to be able to do it if you
Amanda Barr 19:33
needed to. Absolutely that's so, so good. And, you know, obviously, probably it's, it's a hard thing because it does take time, but it's such as you said, an important part of it. Yeah, I'd love to know some tips. What's like must have items in, like a first aid kit. Sorry to interrupt you there, but what are like your must have that people should be having, because obviously they need the training, but they also need a really good first aid kit at their studio, like. You know, is there recommendations around that? What should be in there? Where would you recommend getting this, like, perfect first aid kit? Yeah,
Speaker 1 20:06
absolutely. So I'm just currently developing my own for dance age, so I didn't even know that that's exciting. I know. Yes, it is, it is. So that's still in the in the early stages, but it will be out eventually. And yes, I absolutely recommend. Obviously, you have numerous band aids. We go through these, you know, like no tomorrow, but yeah, like all the little kids, you know, it fixes everything, right? You have some Elsa ones or some superhero ones, of course, as well, have a few different size band bandages. You know, I don't like to teach how to strap specifically, because first aid is about that initial response, and I want to make sure that we are sending them off to get proper medical attention. So, you know, we're not professionals in the field of, you know, physios, osteos, Kairos, those sorts of things. So we want to make sure they're getting their injury specifically looked at. But having some K tape and some, you know, different size bandages to help us compress and strap for a short interim period of time. Absolutely, pocket mask. No one really knows what a pocket mask is. A pocket mask is a face mask that helps with the rescue breaths when you're doing CPR. So it's a barrier device that we can use. So I we absolutely should be having an adult size of one of those and a kid pediatric sites one of those in our first aid kits as well. And then the final thing, there is some evidence coming out that's changing the way we think about our rice acronym with rest ice and press elevate and refer. So they're suggesting ice isn't necessarily the way to go. But at the moment, we're still it's best practice across the first aid world, so we're still educating on that. So the best for ice pack, I can recommend is a bag of peas. You know, they they are cheap in terms of, if you were giving them out all the time to your kids, and they go home with it, you don't need to get it back. And they also mold to any type shape of body parts, so knees, ankles, they will, you know, have good coverage. So I recommend having a bunch of bags of peas in your freezer. Yeah, absolutely. And then obviously you can have some of the crack, you know, break ones on the gold COVID when you crack them in your ice pack, yeah, first aid kits as well to travel around if you need to too Absolutely.
Amanda Barr 22:27
Hey, I love that you just touched on that. You know, you see first aid as a first responder to then pass it on to someone with more knowledge. And I have a great friend, will Centurion, who works with mental health in dances, and I believe you touch on that in your course as well. And he talks about that a lot as well, that you know, we aren't mental health professionals, for example, and we don't need to be all of those things. What we need to know is the warning signs and be a first responder to move it on to the appropriate people. And he talks about it's exactly like you wouldn't try and fix a broken knee yourself. You would send them to someone that has more experience and better qualifications than you do. I love that kind of idea, because I feel like sometimes we think, as a studio owner, I've got to know how to strap it perfectly. I need to know how to deal with this child's, you know, severe depression. I need, you know, whatever that is, but it's just us, you know, knowing how to start the situation and moving it on. Is that right? Yeah,
Speaker 1 23:31
absolutely, yeah. It's knowing that first response, what to do in the interim to get you through, to be able to get them to to the proper help, and knowing what resources they might need. You know, so if it's mental health or an injury, physical injury, it's, yeah, it's, I think, like you say, as a studio owner, as a teacher, we already have so much on our plate, so we just want, what do I need to do? Yeah, what do I need to do in that initial response to get me through so that everyone's safe and happy, and ultimately everyone's there to dance. So we want them to recover and get better and get back into dancing. So however, we can do that safely is super important.
Amanda Barr 24:12
I love that so much. So dance aid and empower dance are coming to dance teacher Expo. You've got some amazing things going on there, because obviously, it can be expensive, hard, you know, to have that in person, first aid. So do you want to talk a bit about what you're doing at dance teacher Expo? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 24:31
So we're so excited to be coming to dance teacher Expo, and we've got a special session set up so we're going to be able to sign you off and get your first aid done there and then on that weekend. So yeah. So the way dance aid is set up is that it's mainly online. So it's mainly an online course of pre recorded videos, which you'll get to see my lovely self on film, and then you answer a bunch of assessment questions, which are multiple choice questions. Students, and then we do a short face to face practical session. So prior to Expo, you'll sign off and get your first online stuff done, and then you can come along and get your CPR and First Aid practical session all signed and done on that weekend. That is
Amanda Barr 25:17
so so good, because obviously, you know, having so much of it online is awesome, but everybody has to be signed off practically. Is that correct? Like, I've got that right. No matter what, you always have to be signed off. Practically.
Speaker 1 25:30
Yeah, correct. So there's no getting around that you have to do CPR on a CPR mannequin. So you have to physically have a mannequin to be able to do that. So yes, at EXPO every year, it might just mean that everyone knows they can come to Expo and get their CPR signed off and get their full first aid, and it's just a tick box they're attending anyway, so it's going to be convenient, and they can feeling, you know, empowered and ready to go for the year. I
Amanda Barr 25:59
love that so much. I think that'll be such a good thing for people, especially like when they're already going just to kind of go into that session, get that all done, not have to worry about it, send their staff, not have to worry about doing it at another time. Finding, because you know what it's like, finding times that all your teachers are available to come in and have the practical part signed off. Yes, which weekend, but this teacher is at this, you know, like it's just a nightmare. So having that all happen at Expo will be amazing. I think that'd be really good. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 26:27
You're right. Getting everyone together for a PD session is just a nightmare,
Amanda Barr 26:32
absolutely. So what do people need to do if they're interested and want to find out more about how they could do this at Expo? How are they best to get in touch with you? What's What do we do?
Speaker 1 26:43
Yeah, absolutely. So you can shoot us an email, which is first [email protected] or you can give us a call, and it's just we'll send you through some information, our prospectus about it, if you'd like to know a bit more specifically about the course, or if you're happy just to sign straight on up, we can send you our link. The link is to the enrollment form. So you fill out the enrollment form, and then you immediately get access to the online course, so you can start straight away.
Amanda Barr 27:11
Awesome. I will Expo.
Speaker 1 27:14
Oh, tell me about that. Yeah, so we're doing 50% off. So incredible. Yeah, our course is 50% off whilst at Expo, so it brings it down to 9450 for full first aid and $25 for a CPR update.
Amanda Barr 27:29
Fantastic. So 9450 per person, plus the $24 CPR update. So
Speaker 1 27:35
that includes the CPR. So 94 includes is full first date, including CPR, and then incredible 2025. Bucks is just for your CPI yearly update, so if you just do one or the other, yep,
Amanda Barr 27:49
so so good. I think that is such a great offer that everyone should be taking advantage of. I will drop all the links that Caitlin spoken about in the show notes, and we'll send you all an email as well with everything you need to know, because what a great opportunity. It was been so good chatting to you, Caitlin, really interesting, finding out a little bit more about it.
Speaker 1 28:10
Yes, thank you very much for having me. Amanda, it's lovely to chat to you too.
Amanda Barr 28:14
We cannot wait to see you at Expo. Thank you so much, friends for listening. Make sure you check out Caitlyn dance aid, and you can also find all of their information on the Empower dance website. So check it out. As we said, it'll be in the show notes. Thanks, friends. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the dance principles United podcast. If you'd love to learn more from us, we have a special offer just for our podcast listeners, go to the link in the show notes right now to get two weeks free in dance, principles, United tribe, we would love to see you there. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
