Branxholm Plantation Society public relations officer Rob McCabe is on a mission to reduce the incidence of heart attacks in the North-East – securing the region’s first 24-hour public access defibrillator.
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Mr McCabe’s not-for-profit organisation donated $2500 for a defibrillator and key-operated case – located at Branxholm IGA.
Mr McCabe said he is now trying to encourage other not-for-profit groups and businesses to work together in providing 24-hour defibrillators.
Mr McCabe said Tasmania’s ageing population was even more reason why 24-hour defibrillators should be widespread.
"If someone has a heart attack, you've got 10 minutes you can do CPR basically as an individual, and then after that you need some assistance,” he said.
Mr McCabe said the death of one of his closest friends, Lino Tivan, had inspired him to take action.
“He was 66 year’s old. He had a wife, three kids, it’s a sad thing. He had a heart attack – I think in King Street.”
St Johns Ambulance Launceston and Devonport centre manager Darren Cooper said having more defibrillators in regional areas could be crucial to savings lives, due to longer ambulance waiting times.
“When a person has a heart attack...CPR can keep the oxygen flowing to the organs, but it will not reset the electrical activity of the heart – a defibrillator can do that,” he said.
“In that first four minutes, the chance of a person surviving goes up by about 40 per cent, as opposed to two to five per cent.”
Local government data from the Heart Foundation showed that Dorset had a hospital admission rate of 46 per 10,000 people for heart-related conditions.
“The one thing I’d like to stress is you can do no harm by applying a defibrillator to a patient,” Mr Cooper said.
Mr McCabe said he believed the defibrillator case was the first of its kind in Tasmania, with the key located within the clear cover.
He said the case discourages theft by triggering an alarm when it is opened.
Mr McCabe said he opted for the cover upon recommendation from St Johns Ambulance.