HOW TO
SAVE A LIFE
BY RACHAEL CHARLES
I
t’s a sad fact that often in the news these days we hear tragedy.
A young boy goes into cardiac arrest on a soccer field. A 50 year
old woman collapses at a trail run. A 25 year old man falls to the
floor at a gym and doesn’t get up. And it happens much more
often than you realise. Every 12 minutes in fact. And that’s not a
typo – every 12 minutes, an Australian will die from some form of
heart disease.
So it’s uplifting to hear the ‘good news’ stories; that young boy
was revived in minutes due to the coach that sprinted for the
onsite defibrillator; that 50 year old woman was defibrillated in 3
minutes due to a roving medic that had a defibrillator at the event;
and that 25 year old man made a full recovery as he was defibbed
within 2 minutes via the AED in the wall cabinet above his head.
The importance of having a defibrillator onsite at sporting
clubs, events and gyms cannot be understated. And it’s vitally
important to get the right one for your circumstances.
Director of First Aid Accident & Emergency (FAAE), Scott
Whimpey, encourages organisations to not only get a defibrillator
for their business, but to get the right one for their needs.
“As an avid runner and multisport competitor myself, I cannot
stress enough the importance of having a defib onsite, especially
around sporting clubs and events,” says Scott. “I would have to
say one of the best for that scenario would be the HeartSine
samaritan 360P defibrillator. It’s one of the toughest ones out
there, but also one of the easiest to use in regards to technology
and transportability. And with one of the highest IP ratings in the
industry, it can handle almost anything you can throw at it.”
FAAE are entrenched in the multisport world, supporting large
scale events like The Kokoda Challenge, parkrun Australia and
the GC50 Run Festival. They were also proud to be the official
defibrillator supplier to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth
Games, providing 150 defibrillators for use at official venues
during the Games.
“We’re really proud of our involvement with local community
groups and getting the message out regarding the importance
of having easily accessible AEDs onsite,” Scott continues. “So far
parkrun Australia have had two successful resuscitations due to
their quick thinking and access to an onsite defibrillator, which is
wonderful to see as they are incidents that could so easily end
in tragedy.
“I guess the key message we really want to sink in is to not wait
for a tragedy before you act,” Scott concludes. “Be proactive, not
reactive. Don’t wait for a death to happen in your workplace or
Club before you finally purchase a defibrillator. We want to stop
one from ever happening in the first place.”
In addition to defibrillators, FAAE also provide a range of
training throughout South East QLD and Northern NSW including
first aid, CPR, advanced resuscitation and low voltage rescue.
Classes are available at their Varsity Lakes and Coomera locations
(with specials now available!) and can be booked online at
www.firstaidae.com.au
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