Gisborne is now home to a new public automated external defibrillator (AED), after a donation from community members.
AEDs are automated devices used to shock a person’s heart back to normal function after blood stops pumping effectively due to cardiac arrest.
Gisborne’s new AED is located at the town’s ambulance branch on Robinson Street and is available to use at all times, enabling a quick response in the event of a cardiac arrest in town.
The new AED was donated by two community members – Braeden Strahan and Jonathon Wieckourski – who raised money after their friend Scott Newell died from cardiac arrest one year ago.
Ambulance Victoria Macedon Ranges senior team manager Tim Fraser said the device is an important addition to Gisborne.
“Every day, around 21 Victorians will suffer a cardiac arrest but only one in 10 survive,” Mr Fraser said.
“We know that bystander intervention has the greatest impact on improving someone’s chance of surviving a cardiac arrest. When a patient receives cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a shock from an AED before paramedics arrive, their chance of survival more than doubles,” he said.
“This new AED will help locals in Gisborne respond and save lives when there’s a medical emergency in town.”
The device was installed during Ambulance Victoria’s Shocktober campaign, which is a month-long cardiac arrest awareness campaign aimed at teaching Victorians how to perform CPR and use an AED.
The campaign also urges Victorians to sign up to the GoodSAM phone app, which links those experiencing cardiac arrest with community member responders who are willing and able to perform CPR before paramedics arrive.
According to Ambulance Victoria, a local GoodSAM responder helped save the life of a Gisborne father of three last year.
Details: ambulance.vic.gov.au/shocktober.
