Wellsprings for Women has been gifted a much-needed defibrillator valued at $2150 by St John Ambulance.
Christmas came early for the organisation and five other community groups who happily received the G3 Elite Semi-Automatic Defibrillator as part of St John Ambulance’s Shocktober commitment.
The St John Ambulance program aims to increase the number of publicly accessible defibrillators in communities most affected by sudden cardiac arrest.
Office Manager for Wellsprings for Women, Jasmine Robbins said they were very excited to receive a defibrillator
“We are really excited and happy to be winners of a new defibrillator, hopefully we don’t need to use it, but if we do, we will be ready.”
“We have staff with CPR training, but we have never had the equipment needed, we have had a few incidents in the past where we have had to call an ambulance, after experiencing those near misses we decided to source a defibrillator.”
Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in Australia, affecting about 30,000 Australians every year and over 7,500 in Victoria.
Sadly, of those affected only five to 10 per cent will survive.
Without CPR started and a defibrillator on hand within minutes, most do not survive, robbing families of loved ones.
St John Victoria CEO Gordon Botwright said getting more defibrillators out into the community was crucial.
“Having more easily accessible defibrillators out in the local community, can be the difference between life or death during a cardiac arrest.”
“If patients are shocked by a publicly accessible defibrillator, their chances of survival can increase from as low as five per cent to as high as 70 per cent– as seen in some parts of the world,” Mr Botwright said.
“This is why the availability of defibrillators in all parts of the community is crucial.
“We are incredibly proud to be working with an inspiring organisation like Wellsprings for Women, they submitted a worthy application and clearly care deeply about the health and safety of their members and the wider community.”
