A Robigana woman who gave CPR to a dying man for more than 20 minutes is encouraging more people to learn the life-saving skill to help save lives.
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Diane Scott was driving through Robigana on Monday afternoon when she was flagged down by a woman on the side of the road who directed her to a man lying unconscious on a patch of grass.
Ms Scott, who works as a disability support worker and has been trained in CPR, quickly sprang into action.
"I pulled over and started the training you never want to have to use," she said. "I checked to see if he was breathing, he wasn't breathing so I started CPR."
A local road crew working nearby called triple-zero and came to assist Ms Scott, who performed CPR on the man until a nurse driving by pulled over to assist.
She said shortly after, paramedics arrived and pronounced the man dead at the scene.
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It wasn't until speaking with a friend who was a volunteer paramedic about the experience that Ms Scott discovered an app that showed the location of defibrillators around Tasmania.
"I didn't sleep well that night so the next day I googled where's my closest defibrillator and there's an app that you can download," she said.
"There was one at the Deviot Community Hall and another at Gravelly Beach just down the road and I didn't even know about them.
"I feel that if we had a defibrillator things could have been different."
St John Ambulance Tasmania Philip Blackwell health services Manager Philip Blackwell said in an emergency, access to a defibrillator could significantly improve the chance of survival.
"If CPR is given within four minutes or defibrillation within 8-12 minutes, there is a significantly improved survival rate," he said. "Each minute without defibrillation reduces the chances of survival by up to 10 per cent."
"Getting more defibrillators in public places like workplaces, sporting clubs and entertainment precincts is critical to improving survival rates."
"I just think it's a really important thing that all Tasmanians know CPR and where their closest defibrillator is, and how to use it, because that could save someone's life," she said.
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