By BRIDGET COOK
CASEY sporting clubs have the opportunity to buy a lifesaving defibrillator at a discounted price during the winter sports season.
St John Ambulance Victoria has expanded its community defibrillator campaign throughout winter with defibrillators offered to local sporting clubs at a discounted price of $1875 to assist in purchasing this life saving equipment.
The first phase of the Heart Start program, launched in 2012, saw St John gift 100 defibrillator units and associated training to clubs.
Since then, St John has continued to provide defibrillators and training to sporting clubs at a subsidised rate and in total has delivered $1.6 million in gifted or subsidised defibrillators to the Victorian community.
Tony McPhillips, from the Cranbourne Superules Football Club, said they were lucky enough to receive a defibrillator last year from St John and it was available to all teams at their home ground.
“We have two Superules teams comprising about 60 players,” he said.
“Our age group is over 35s but we have a number of players aged over 50 and it seemed common sense to have a defibrillator on hand at our clubrooms.
“We share the rooms with the senior football club, our two Superules teams, a women’s team, a youth girls’ team, an all-abilities team, and six netball teams.
“We are cognisant that, regardless of age or gender, sudden onset of heart failure can occur.”
Mr McPhillips urged sporting clubs to take up the discounted offer.
“We are fortunate that the defibrillator has not been required and hope it stays that way,” she said. “We believe that all sporting clubs and local facilities should have access to such an important tool – however we understand the costs sometimes prohibit this.
“Hence we were very appreciative of St Johns support.”
St John chief executive Stephen Horton said having a defibrillator on hand was critical to survival in the event of a cardiac arrest and St John was committed to equipping local clubs with the skills and equipment to respond.
“Helping prevent avoidable deaths is highly relevant to our mission of saving lives through first aid, and we know that clubs struggle to raise the funds to purchase a defibrillator,” he said.
“We hope to break down that barrier with this subsidy.
“For every passing minute without a defibrillator shock the chance of survival reduces by ten per cent, and with the average response time from an ambulance being nine to 14 minutes it’s critical that clubs are equipped to administer a defibrillator shock and follow up with CPR if a cardiac arrest occurs.
“I’d encourage anyone wanting to help expand this program and save lives in their local community or throughout the state to contact St John.”
Individuals or businesses wanting to support the Heart Start program should contact St John on 8588 8300. Clubs interested in applying for this subsidy can visit www.defibssavelives.com.au for more information.
