This February, Heart of the Nation is on a mission to encourage more people to confidently use an Automated External Defibrillator (or AED) to increase the lives from sudden cardiac arrest, which currently affects around 25,000¹ Australians annually with a survival rate of only around 5%² to hospital discharge.
Ambulance Victoria reported that a survival rate as high as 67%³ can be achieved when an AED is used within the first 3 minutes from the patient’s collapse.
However, AEDs are currently only used by community members in around 8%² of cases before paramedics arrive.
Accessibility to an AED, and bystander confidence to use one are the two key factors.
Heart of the Nation CEO, Greg Page, said: “No medical or first aid training is required to quickly respond to someone in cardiac arrest where an AED is nearby.
Early defibrillation by an AED can increase survival rates drastically while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
When someone collapses due to a cardiac arrest (unconscious and not breathing normally), they rely upon community members to act rapidly, while waiting for paramedics to arrive to help save their life.
An AED becomes the team leader, talking to responders and telling them exactly what they can do to give that person the best chance of surviving”.
The ‘Turn Me On, I’ll Tell You What To Do’ campaign is designed to increase bystander confidence and willingness to use an AED when someone is not responding and not breathing normally.
“It is crucial that people understand that when it comes to sudden cardiac arrest, any attempt at resuscitation is better than none, and the role an AED plays is vital to giving the patient the best chance of surviving,” continues Greg.
Head of Education and Training with Heart of the Nation, Kevin McSweeney said: “As a paramedic with over 25 years experience, I turn up to cardiac arrests, and see people doing CPR, which is great, but we also notice a lot of the time there may be an AED nearby and no one has noticed or they have not had the confidence to use it.
The difference an AED can make to saving a life is staggering, time is critical in a sudden cardiac arrest episode and all that is required from an AED is that you turn it on.”
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