Hospitality first responder training / South Australian Ambulance Service, Drug and Alcohol Services Council South Australia.

Winner: 2007 Australian Safer Communities Awards, Combination stream, Pre-Disaster category.

Winner: 2007 Australian Safer Communities Awards, State Award Recipient.

Drug overdose is the most common reason for an ambulance to be called to a licensed venue. With this in mind, the South Australian Ambulance Service and Drug and Alcohol Services of South Australia, in collaboration with the hospitality sector, have developed the Hospitality First Responder Training program. This training is specific to the venue and enables staff to offer appropriate management of a casualty to their patrons who may experience a medical emergency due to alcohol and/or other drug use, trauma or collapse. The training provides staff with the skills to know how to identify a problem and make an appropriate initial response to a medical emergency as part of a wider risk management strategy. Whilst this voluntary course is not a first-aid course, it is an important first step in managing the environment around the casualty, the other patrons and the professional responders. The trainees learn to recognise emergencies and they gain knowledge on how to act quickly and effectively, which in turn can be valuable away from their work environment. They get to understand the role of paramedics in the community. The two and a half hour training session includes such topics as: the effects of alcohol on the human body, what psycho-active drugs do to the body, what is trauma, medical collapse, and scene management. It is designed to provide staff and management at a hospitality venue ? be it a hotel, tavern, night club or resort ? with the skills to attend to a victim, and to know techniques to manage the scene which is unique to each venue. This in turn allows for a real emergency scenario to be developed to help employees identify with likely outcomes involving medical collapse.