More than 500 community members joined St John Ambulance Victoria at Eastland Shopping Centre on World First Aid Day, helping make this year's event a resounding success and a powerful demonstration of our mission to build safer, more resilient communities.

On Saturday 12 September, Eastland came alive as families, shoppers and community members stopped by to test their first aid skills, learn practical lifesaving techniques and connect with our teams. The event provided a unique opportunity to showcase the importance of first aid education while empowering people with the confidence to act in an emergency.

Visitors took part in a range of interactive experiences designed to build real-world skills, including CPR and defibrillation practice, snake bite bandaging, recovery position training, splinting demonstrations and tourniquet application. Across the day, hundreds of people walked away with new knowledge that could one day help save a life.

The event also offered plenty of fun for younger visitors. Children enjoyed face painting, fairy floss, photo opportunities with the ever-popular Johnny Bear, and hands-on first aid kit building activities. The moulage station was another crowd favourite, giving participants a realistic look at how first aid skills can be applied in emergency situations.

Attendees also took home a range of resources and giveaways, including mini first aid kits, choking first aid checklist magnets, coffee vouchers and entry into a prize draw. These practical takeaways helped reinforce an important message: being prepared can make all the difference in an emergency.

One of the standout attractions on the day was the St John Buggy, which proved incredibly popular with visitors, but what made the day truly special was the collaboration across St John Ambulance.

Teams from Training, Event Health Services volunteers, Non-Emergency Patient Transport and Community Education Officers came together to share their expertise, engage with the public and inspire confidence in first aid. Their professionalism, enthusiasm and passion for helping others were on full display throughout the day.

Events like World First Aid Day are a great reminder of the impact we can have when we work together. Every conversation, demonstration and interaction helped raise awareness of the importance of first aid and equipped community members with skills that could save a life.

The event's message extended beyond Eastland, with media coverage in the Herald Sun highlighting the importance of having a first aid kit at home and ensuring it is regularly checked and maintained, as recent new research commissioned by St John Ambulance Australia found almost eight in ten Victorians (77%) have access to a first aid kit, including 64% who have one at home, an increase from 2025 when only 59% reported having one at home, 37% who have one in their car and 30% who have access to one at work. Yet despite this, preparedness is moving in the wrong direction, with the proportion of Victorians without any first aid kit surging from 19% in 2025 to 20% in 2026.

The findings mean almost one in three Victorians could be left without immediate access to basic first aid supplies in an emergency, up from fewer than one in five just 12 months ago.

Together, we are helping build a community that is better prepared, more confident and ready to respond when it matters most. That is something worth celebrating.