By Sibanengi Dube
St John Ambulance is installing 30 defibrillators in a Brimbank new suburb on April 18 in an effort to save lives from cardiac arrest deaths.
The lifesaving program aims to significantly reduce deaths caused by sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in a suburb that will be identified on the day of the launch.
St John Ambulance communications executive Nicole Ng said that through the initiative, St John Ambulance Victoria will be installing the defibrillators throughout the community, all available 24 hours a day, and providing free and accredited training to all residents.
The program is the first of its own kind in Australia. The initial one was rolled out across Reservoir in March 2022 where 29 defibrillatiors were installed.
More than 3000 residents were trained in CPR and defibrillation for free and residents are now less than 400m away from a defibrillation.
Statistics show that close to 80 per cent of sudden cardiac arrests happen at home and that survival is significantly higher when shocked first by a public defibrillator (50 per cent), compared to when paramedics arrived (27 per cent).
CPR within the first three to four minutes of SCA, coupled with the use of a defibrillator, can increase the survival rates to as high as 70 per cent.
Only one per cent of victims were defibrillated by a public defibrillator in Victoria last year.
“In 2023, the program rolls out to a second suburb within Brimbank, where three of Victoria’s top 10 highest suburbs for number of sudden cardiac arrest are located,” said Ms Ng.
