For Bendigo mum Gabriella Irwin, first aid training felt like a matter of life or death when her daughter Forest was born.
"She was born with a high temperature and some sort of infection in her body. They were treating her for sepsis, but they didn't really know what was going on," she said.
Bringing home her baby was supposed to be exciting, but Ms Irwin said she was terrified by what might happen.
"We were really anxious. She's had two operations since she was born and we had quite the traumatic experience with all of that," she said.
"We just didn't know what to expect."
It was only a year ago when Forest was about three years old that the young parents were able to get any answers when Forest was diagnosed with a heart condition.
Ms Irwin and her husband feared the worst and sought out first aid training, but quickly realised the cost was prohibitive.
First aid classes in Victoria can cost anywhere between $75 and $300.
Compounding the issue, the lack of courses locally in Bendigo meant a possible two-hour trip to Melbourne and extra costs in childcare.
"I just thought we were not going to be able to do our first aid because we couldn't afford it at the time," she said.
Overwhelming demand for first aid training
Ms Irwin found a solution when she came across a Facebook post from local paediatric nurse Grace Larson, who was offering free first aid classes.
"When I met Grace, she knew what she was talking about and we connected because her daughter actually has the same condition as [mine]," Ms Irwin said.
Ms Larson said she had noticed her daughter breathing irregularly when she was five weeks old, prompting a trip to the emergency department and the discovery of a cardiac condition.
She said the experience made her realise than many parents might not have been so fortunate.
"It really highlighted to me that there were potentially people having children who wouldn't have had that level of support from services due to the pandemic," Ms Larson said.
"It really prompted us to look at how we can support more of the community and parents during that time."
Ms Larson and her sister founded The Sisterhood Project to offer free infant and child first-aid courses to disadvantaged parents and carers.
Demand for their training courses has doubled this year.
Ms Larson said she quickly came to realise the shortage of services was affecting many Victorian parents.
"Initially as a business, we started offering free places to people, but I think what we realised was the scope for that was much larger than what we initially thought," she said.
"It needs to be easily obtainable, and finances shouldn't be a burden for people."
Pandemic lead to reduction in first aid training
Brian Haskins, a senior lecture in paramedicine at Victoria University, said the uptake of first aid training had dropped during numerous COVID lockdowns.
"Certainly, during … COVID, with the restriction of face-to-face, there's been a reduction in the amount of training that can happen," he said.
"Reduction in CPR training is a concern because that means that more people won't survive a cardiac arrest."
Dr Haskins said the low uptake of first aid training was concerning.
"We really want parents and the general public to know how to do CPR and how to use a public defibrillator because that can save lives," he said.
"For every minute without CPR being done, there's a 10 per cent less chance of survival.
"When the paramedics arrive, if nobody's done anything there's very little paramedics can do."
Ms Irwin said undertaking first aid training had given her the confidence to respond to her daughter's medical episodes.
"It was important for me to have my first aid, so I had the assurance and felt comfortable in aiding her if she had any health concern," she said.
"It's nice to know I've got that backup."
