Kingscliff optometrist Russell Zahn has just returned home after two weeks in the Philippines as a volunteer training lifeguards and carrying out water safety training with the Philippine Red Cross in Cebu and Boracay.
He joins a steady stream of local lifesavers travelling to Thailand and the Philippines assisting with Cudgen Headland SLSC’s outreach programs.
This is Russell’s second volunteer trip. In 2010 he travelled with a team of Cudgen lifesavers to Phuket to assist their sister Club, the Phuket Lifeguard Club, to train local government lifeguards.
In the Philippines, Russell assisted former Cudgen chairman David Field deliver training to Red Cross volunteers on Boracay Island.
“I taught everything from tube rescue to stroke correction and patient assessment and CPR – it was a great experience working with the Filipinos who are so eager to learn from us in the area of water safety and aquatic rescue,” Russell said.
The Philippine Red Cross is now eagerly awaiting the arrival of 10 rescue boards donated by Cudgen and local lifeguards.
These boards will be sent to areas of greatest water safety need in the growing tourist areas in the country.
The cost of shipping the Cudgen boards and other rescue and resuscitation gear has been met by Australian Red Cross who has placed David Field in-country as a volunteer for 12 months to develop lifesaving in Red Cross chapters around the country.
