Photo: Jane Picket, President of the St Helens Bowls Club, and Nicole Richards, Practice Manager of Ochre Medical Centre St Helens, pictured with St Helens newest defibrillator
A new defibrillator for public access in St Helens will be installed at the St Helens Bowls Club this month.
The donation of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) by Ochre Medical Centre St Helens will provide the St Helens Bowls Club with a lifesaving technology that can be used in the event of a cardiac emergency. An AED delivers a controlled shock to any individual experiencing cardiac arrest, increasing their chances of survival.
Dermot Roche, CEO of Ochre Health, said supporting the St Helens community with this life-saving device is something he is delighted to be associated with: “With more than 20,000 Australians experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest every year,[1] immediate access to defibrillation at community-based sporting facilities provides a great safety guard in the event it is required.”
“We hope that increasing the availability of defibrillator technologies in smaller, regional communities, such as St Helens, will improve the likelihood of survival for incidents of cardiac arrest.”
The St Helens Bowls Club is very grateful to Dr Janet Cantley and her husband, Terry, for assisting Ochre Health in providing the club with this lifesaving resource. Club President, Jane Picket, said the club’s 80 members are delighted by the news: “We know that defibrillator machines save lives, so I think it’s fantastic that they will now be easily accessible within our venue.
“Cardiac arrests can happen anywhere and to anyone. For many of our residents, access to a defibrillator could be the difference between life and death.”
Jane added: “The addition of a defibrillator is a wonderful asset for our community and for our club. It demonstrates that our doctors at Ochre Medical Centre St Helens really care about our local community and keeping people safe. While we hope we’ll never need to use it, it’s important to have one on hand just in case.”
[1] While there is no national registry of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SDA), The Heart Foundation estimate that 25,000 people suffer cardiac arrest outside of hospital in Australia each year. See further: https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/your-heart/sudden-cardiac-death.
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