I am heartened by secondary student Au Eong Tyen Haan's passion for first-aid advocacy (Hold CPR training in schools; April 25).

In an emergency, the first few minutes are critical for saving a person's life - every minute's delay in providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) decreases one's survival rate by up to 10 per cent.

Yet, when an accident occurs in Singapore, only about 15 per cent receive any form of bystander assistance.

I agree that more can be done at the community level, especially in schools and among youth.

In reaching out to youth, peer-to-peer advocacy is imperative and the most effective, and this is something that the Singapore Red Cross recognises.

As part of efforts to demonstrate the importance of emergency preparedness in building community resilience, the Red Cross Youth have carried out several activities, including:

- a series of fiestas to spread first-aid awareness.

- the launching of the "GO Bag", a portable kit that enables families to be better prepared for emergencies.

- cadets leading emergency preparedness efforts in their respective schools.

- the launch of InstaSave, a collection of six bite-sized instructional first-aid videos (each addressing one of the six common conditions of emergencies in Singapore: cardiac arrest, seizure, choking, severe bleeding, stroke and burn wounds).

Last year, we educated 17,300 schoolgoing children on the importance of first aid and emergency preparedness.

We will continue to champion first aid, even to very young children, through our Red Cross Junior programme for pre-schoolers.

Benjamin William