Following a collaboration between the Mounties Group and former yellow Wiggle Greg Page’s charity Heart of the Nation, a number of AEDs have been installed in community centres and public areas across the Central Coast.
It’s been a year since the Mounties Group pledged $175,000 to support the charity’s push to get more publicly available Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) into the community.
Breakers Country Club at Wamberal is the first of these to be installed at its public golf course with two defibrillators being positioned on the first fairway and the fifth tee for easy access to nearby residents in Plymouth Dr, Windsor Rd, and Willougby Rd.
AEDs funded by Mounties Care will be installed at other Central Coast locations including The Berkeley Centre, Peninsula Community Centre, Erina Centre, The Entrance Community Centre and Hamlyn Terrace Community Centre.
About 28,000 Australians suffer sudden cardiac arrest each year and only 10 per cent survive.
After surviving a cardiac arrest in January 2020, Page created Heart of the Nation which has since been responsible for promoting the importance of AEDs being accessible in public areas and workplaces.
The Mounties Group and Heart of the Nation’s collaboration has funded 50 AEDs to be installed in public places across the Central Coast, Northern Beaches and Western Sydney.
“Every second counts when a life is at stake and Greg Page’s story is testament to the importance of these life-saving devices,” Mounties Group President John Dean said.
“We funded these 50 defibrillators as we are committed to improving the lives of our members and those in the communities in which we operate, and we believe AEDs do just that.
“They are a critical tool that give people an opportunity to survive when time is of the essence.”
Page said that thanks to the generous donation by Mounties Care the life-saving defibrillators installed in public halls and community centres across the Central Coast meant that any member of the public could access them when they needed them, no matter the time of day.
“If you can access an AED within three to five minutes of someone suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, you can increase their chance of survival to 70 per cent,” he said.
“We encourage everyone in the community to familiarise themselves with the locations because you just don’t know when you might need to use one.
“Having the AEDs in public places is paramount, but Heart of the Nation is also about educating people to know how to use them and what to do in an emergency.”
Heart of the Nation’s national campaign includes the launch of a free app to educate Australians on how to perform CPR and use an AED.
“AEDs are designed to be used by anyone,” Page said.
“You do not need a qualification or certification to operate one. An AED will not shock a patient that doesn’t need to be shocked, and it will not harm the responder.
“We encourage people to learn these basic steps to take if someone is in cardiac arrest – call 000, start CPR and use an AED.”
Source:
Brilliant Logic