Boy's important CPR lesson

A 10-year-old boy who performed CPR on his dad after a motorbike accident wants medical training in primary schools.

The boy - who only wanted to be known as Harry - was riding on Riversdale Beach, near Masterton, with his dad, Jase, 40, when his father crashed and was knocked unconscious.

"I was freaking out but I went over to him and lifted his motorbike off him. It was really heavy," Harry said.

The boy started pumping his dad's chest and breathing into his mouth, something he remembered from a Red Cross visit to his Masterton school a year earlier.

Jase was airlifted to Wellington Hospital with a broken collar bone and burns from the bike's exhaust.

After his experience, Harry wanted CPR taught in all schools.

"It was a pretty amazing thing to be able to do and it was awesome to learn it."

Jase said his son had done well in a distressing situation.

"I was proud of him before but yes, we are all pretty happy with what he did."

A study published in the NZ Medical Journal in 2003 found just over a third or 37.5 per cent of 754 primary schools surveyed taught resuscitation skills during 2001, compared with 81 per cent of secondary schools.