Well, she did remember.
A few nights later, when her 10-month-old granddaughter, Charlie Burnby, choked and stopped breathing, Mrs Coats hit her on the back - hard.
Her new-found skills may have saved the baby's life.
Mrs Coats (52) said she and daughter Kerrilee Burnby (18), were changing Charlie's nappy about 8pm on Wednesday when the baby started choking.
‘‘First, she coughed. Then it really lodged in her throat. She couldn't make any noise and her little face was so frightened.''
Recalling what she had learned just five days earlier, Mrs Coats picked Charlie up by her feet, held her upside down and started hitting her back.
‘‘At first, I gave her some grandmotherly pats, but that didn't work so I gave her five really good thumps. It [the piece of plastic] shot out on the fifth one. I was getting a bit panicky by then, though.''
Mrs Coats believed the toddler picked up the 1.5cm by 1cm piece of plastic, which fell to the floor after a light fitting broke earlier in the week.
‘‘We thought we had cleaned it all up, but obviously there was still this bit there.''
Yesterday, Charlie was recovering nicely, aside from a slightly irritated throat.
Mrs Coats said she ‘‘thanked heaven'' her employer, the O'Brien Group in Mosgiel, sent her on the two-day Red Cross course and she urged others to learn or re-learn first aid techniques.
‘‘It saved my granddaughter's life.''
Red Cross regional training manager Paul McNamara said the incident showed why first aid was a useful skill.
‘‘It [first aid] is something easily put off. This is the perfect example of knowing something when you need it.''
