• Who needs
  first aid?
  
• Choosing your
  service
  
• UniMed's First
  Aid Services
  
• Our Guarantee
  of Service
  

CHOOSING YOUR FIRST AID SERVICES

The level of service that your event needs is based on the risk level and the number of people required. Your coverage may include volunteer first aiders, medical professionals, ambulance services or a combination of these.

A number of services exist to cater for these different levels of coverage required. As part of your event management process, you need to consider which type of service will meet your needs. For example, two volunteer first aiders would be no where near sufficient to cover a professional motor sports event. Equally, a team of six paid doctors and paramedics is definitely overkill for a school sports carnival (and would probably never fit in such an event's budget).

Staff for events come in two types: volunteer and paid. Please note that the opposite of volunteer is not professional. Professional is a term used to express an organisation's standards of practice. It is up to the client to determine whether they consider a service professional enough or not for their needs.

Volunteer services will tend to be cheaper as their donation or service fee will not cover any labour. They will tend to charge or request an amount to cover their costs only. Paid services are commercial enterprises who must make a profit and pay wages, and will charge accordingly, however, there is a stronger commercial accountability by having paid staff. The choice is ultimately up to the consumer of these health services, so it pays to shop around and determine what service gives the best coverage for the money paid or donated AND which service (or combination of services) will provide the most appropriate level of care for the risk and number of persons involved.

Services in NSW include:

Volunteer first aiders only
Australian Red Cross

Volunteer first aiders and volunteer or paid career medical staff
UniMed First Aid
St. John Ambulance Australia

Paid Career Staff Only
Ambulance Service of NSW
Health Service International (Recommended partner organisation)
Immediate Assistance
Paramedical Services