Module 04
First Response
Getting someone out of the water is only the beginning. In the minutes before professional help arrives, what a bystander does can determine whether the victim survives and how fully they recover. This module teaches age-appropriate first aid for water emergencies, divided by age group and aligned with internationally recognized first aid standards. It is built on the understanding that first aid knowledge should not be reserved for adults or for countries with reliable emergency infrastructure.
Section 01
Check and Call (Ages 8 to 10)
Younger students learn a clear, manageable first response: check whether the person is breathing, keep themselves safe, and call emergency services immediately using the correct local number. They learn what to say when someone picks up, how to describe their location accurately, and why staying with the person until help arrives is not optional. These three steps are practiced until students can carry them out when frightened.
Check Breathing
Look, listen, and feel for breath.
Call Emergency Services
Use the correct local number right away.
Describe Location
Say clearly where you are and what happened.
Section 02
CPR Concepts (Ages 11 to 14)
Older students are introduced to chest compressions and rescue breaths, taught in a way that accounts for what a child can physically do. Lessons cover hand placement, compression depth and rate, the relationship between compressions and rescue breaths, and what an automated external defibrillator (AED) is, what it does, and where students are likely to find one in a public space. The focus is on building enough practical understanding that a student will act rather than freeze.
Compressions
Hand placement, depth, and rate for chest compressions.
Rescue Breaths
The ratio of compressions to rescue breaths.
AED Awareness
What an AED does and where to find one in public.
Section 03
Recovery Position
When a person is unconscious or semi-conscious but breathing, chest compressions are not the appropriate response. Students learn when and how to use the recovery position, how to move a person carefully without aggravating a potential injury, and how to monitor their breathing while waiting for professional help. This is a skill that requires no physical strength and is fully learnable by children of most ages.
When to Use It
For someone unconscious but still breathing.
Move Carefully
Reposition without aggravating an injury.
Monitor Breathing
Watch the airway until help arrives.
Section 04
Staying With the Person
The instinct during a crisis is often to run for help and keep running. Students learn why staying with the victim is frequently the most important thing they can do, and what that actually looks like in practice: monitoring breathing, speaking calmly to someone who is conscious and in shock, and managing their own fear while another person depends on them. These are treated as first aid skills in their own right.
Monitor Breathing
Keep watching the victim's airway and breath.
Speak Calmly
Talk to someone conscious and in shock.
Manage Your Fear
Stay steady while someone depends on you.
Why It Matters
The gap before help arrives.
Brain damage from drowning can begin within minutes of submersion. In many communities where Life Afloat teaches, emergency services take time to arrive, and the gap between pulling someone from the water and professional medical care can be significant. A student who knows how to call for help, position a casualty correctly, and attempt CPR can directly affect whether that person survives. This knowledge belongs in every classroom, at every age, in every country.
Our Vision
First aid as a community skill.
Life Afloat teaches first aid as a community skill, not just an individual one. A student who learns these techniques and brings them home extends this knowledge into their family and neighborhood. In communities where professional emergency response is limited, that transfer of knowledge is not a bonus outcome. It is part of what the program is designed to achieve.