MAKE A DIFFERENCE : Hills Police defibrillators
by Lorna Gordon
According to the Heart Foundation , approximately 25,000 people have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting in Australia each year . Sadly , less than five percent of these people survive , which is only 1,200 people getting to go home to their families .
In the case of a cardiac arrest , every second can make a difference and quite often it ’ s our police officers who are first on the scene of an emergency , so it ’ s reassuring to know eleven of our Hills Police cars now carry Automated Eternal Defibrillators , or AEDs , to help resuscitate people .
Darrin Batchelor , Superintendent Commander of the Hills Police told me how important these new editions to the general duty and highway patrol cars are .
“ When you call 000 the system interacts with police , fire brigade and ambulance . On calls where the ambos think the police could assist , or they have a potential delayed response , they will ask us , knowing we can respond quite quickly ,” said Darrin .
“ We are there before the paramedics , their response times are around 14 minutes and they are super busy , if we have the trial 11 defibs available 24 hours a day , we can provide essential early medical intervention .”
These defibrillators are part of a 12 month trial , which if successful , will roll out across NSW to ensure more police vehicles will carry them and have the potential to save more lives . CPR is a lifesaving skill which all police officers are trained in , but the machines can take this action one step further .
“ The defibrillators have a compression monitoring function to make sure we do the compressions deep enough and fast enough to be effective . They also monitor the heart to give shocks at the correct time , rather than rely on human estimates , which makes them more reliable than the older styles or hoping the people on hand get it the timing right .”
The AEDs were donated by CHRG ( formally the Castle Hill RSL ) who work closely with Greg Page , who is known to many by his time in The Wiggles . Greg suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest ( SCA ) while preforming at Castle Hill and was given life saving CPR and shocks from the AED which was kept onsite . Andy Abey from CHRG was happy to talk to me about working with Greg and his organisation , Heart of the Nation , and supplying the AEDs to the local police .
“ We meet with the local police regularly and they have often told us how difficult it is for them as first responders to help people when they don ’ t have AEDs in the cars . There has been a lot of stigma attached to AEDs being seen as a medical device rather than a lifesaving one and it was difficult for the local police to be allowed to carry them .” Andy commented . “ When two-year-old Lilly McGown had a cardiac arrest in the back of the car while her mother was driving , the police were the first people on the scene and
Several of the Hills Police general duties and highway patrol cars now carry Automated External Defibrillators to help in a medical emergency .
did CPR for 30 minutes until she regained consciousness .
“ Having an AED available would have made a difference to everyone involved and because of this Darrin was able put a report through and have another go at getting the AEDs . Personally , I know they will make a difference to people we know and am really proud of what we do .”
The devices will cover from Thornleigh
to Gladesville Bridge , which is the entire Hills LGA and more than 400 square km and I am sure will be responsible for helping to save lives over the 12 month trial .
If you want to know more about what Heart of the Nation does or look into getting an AED for your local community you can go to www . heartofthenation . com . au .
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10 ISSUE 90 // DECEMBER 2022 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HILLS INDEPENDENT