From tragedy to purpose: Dave Winner’s mission to save lives

For Dave Winner, CPR is more than a good skill to have. It is the reason he is still alive today.

In 2021, Dave was involved in a near-fatal surfing accident at Coalcliff Beach, where he was knocked unconscious and underwater for more than three minutes, breaking his neck and going into cardiac arrest.

His life was saved by nearby bystanders who knew CPR, one of whom had been Dave's student during his time as chief instructor at Coalcliff Surf Life Saving Club.

Following Dave's recovery as a partial quadriplegic, The Dave Winner Foundation was established with a goal of training one million Australians in CPR by 2030.

The not-for-profit organisation provides free monthly CPR training at Coledale RSL, led by Dave and his son. The next session is scheduled for October 21.

With support from the IMB Bank Community Foundation, Dave is expanding his CPR initiative with a new app designed to make lifesaving education readily available at people’s fingertips.

The FreeFlow CPR app provides short training videos, knowledge checks, a chat with Dave, an defibrillator finder and guidance for adult, child and infant CPR. 

“The app is open to all people, of all ages and allows people to do the training for free with no time constraints,” Dave said.

“It allows us to reach a much broader community and the only way that we would be able to reach our goal is to attract that broader audience electronically.”

Dave said that people did not need to be formally certified to make a difference during the critical moments before emergency services arrived.

“I want to reach people who haven’t had the opportunity to get trained commercially or because of distance,” he said.

“I want to train the mums, dads, nans, pops, aunties and uncles who haven’t done a first aid course.

“It's about giving people the skills and confidence of knowing what to do without any certification because those first five to 10 minutes when an emergency occurs are so critically important.”

The app comes as the Coalcliff community prepares for the annual Dave Winner Beach to Bombie Swim, which has become closely linked to Dave’s story and his message around CPR awareness.

The event has been held by Coalcliff SLSC for 15 years and has honoured Dave since 2023.

Club captain and organiser of the swim Rob Deacon said renaming the swim after Dave was initially about supporting him through his recovery but has since helped give the event a greater sense of community connection.

“When Dave had his accident, we thought 'let’s name the swim after him' – it was all about boosting him up and putting a smile on his face,” Rob said.

“Changing the name really made the swim resonate in the community because people know the story of Dave and come to honour him – it gives people more motivation to participate.

“Dave, his wife Judy, his family and friends are an inspiration and we would like the swim to become quite high-profile to raise money for the club.”

With support from Equilibrium Healthcare, this year's swim will return to Coalcliff on November 22, taking both competitive and recreational ocean swimmers on a course of about 1.7 kilometres.

Registration is open from 9am, with a race briefing at 10:45am and the swim starting at 11am.

The event is supported by Surf Life Saving water safety teams, including drones, jet skis, inflatable rescue boats, rescue boards and rescue tubes.

For Dave, the connection between the swim and his foundation is more than deeply personal.

“The swim gives me the opportunity to do a bit of promotional work as it blends in with the whole idea of what we do,” he said.

“I am very grateful for the support and proud of the community that comes.”

CPR once saved his life and Dave is using his second chance to hopefully help save others.

“After my accident I didn't understand why this happened to me but I realised that I have to have a purpose,” he said. 

“Setting up the foundation became a huge goal for me because I thought if I can help other people save lives, what happened to me has a reason.

“I own this, it doesn’t own me. I was brought back for a reason and this is it.”

The FreeFlow CPR app is another step towards turning his experience into action, extending his reach beyond the Illawarra and giving everyday Australians the confidence to respond when a life is on the line.

Read more

Coalcliff SLSC invites swimmers to the New Great Swim of the South

Enter now to take part in a spectacular 1.7km ocean swim, writes Coalcliff SLSC club captain, Rob Deacon

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