AN UDPATE to Ambulance Victoria’s Automated External Defibrillator gifting policy has enabled community groups across the Wimmera easier access to the life saving machines.
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In June Ambulance Victoria rolled out GoodSam, a mobile phone app which connects qualified responders in the area with a patient in need of immediate assistance.
The app works by telling a registered responder where the patient is, and where the nearest publicly accessible defibrillator is.
The initiative also created a webpage which allows a person to look up where the nearest publicly accessible defibrillator is anytime.
With that came the updated policy.
Previously, the policy enabled some clubs to apply for machines at zero cost to them, such as sporting clubs, but not all clubs were able to apply.
Now the policy is less restrictive in which community clubs can apply to receive a free defibrillator.
The application must come via an auxiliary group or Ambulance Victoria branch which possesses the funds to purchase the machine and gift it to the club
Community groups who receive an defibrillator then receive training from the supplier of the defibrillator .
If the community group requires ongoing training, they may contact Ambulance Victoria’s community funding office to discuss further options.
In Ararat, the first group to apply was the Ararat Senior Citizens Club, who submitted their application in early December.
Auxiliary president Gwenda Allgood congratulated the club and said the policy change was a chance to save local lives.
“If we can save one life in the community then we can say we've done our best, haven't we,” she said.
Ms Allgood said that community groups who would like to apply for a machine need to contact her directly and then she will take the request to Ambulance Victoria.
An auxiliary or branch will only support a community group if they have community funds and if they agree that it is a good initiative.
“They need to come to us and then we contact the ambulance people themselves and they tell us where the defibrillators already are so we're not doubling up,” Ms Allgood said.
An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman explained why the machines are so necessary.
“A person in cardiac arrest will collapse and stop breathing normally and should receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation immediately,” she said.
“Over 6000 Victorians a year suffer a cardiac arrest away from hospital, with an increasing number of cases in rural Victoria over the past ten years.”
The spokeswoman said the chance of survival increases by 62 per cent if a person in cardiac arrest is defibrillated by a bystander before an ambulance arrives.
“Every minute counts in a cardiac arrest. Every minute CPR and using an defibrillator is delayed it decrease a person’s chance of survival by 10 per cent,” she said.