The Bong Bong Picnic Race Club has announced the purchase of two state-of-the-art defibrillators to be kept on site to prevent deaths from cardiac arrest.
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The club is one of the first regional picnic race clubs to purchase defibrillators.
Every year in Australia it is estimated that about 30,000 people suffer a sudden cardiac arrest away from a hospital.
The first five minutes during a cardiac arrest are key to survival – defibrillation within three minutes of collapse can increase the chance of survival to over 70 per cent.
Owner of Heart Starters Australia, Scott Longmuir, who instructed the picnic race club volunteers on the use of the defibrillators, said the community needs more easily accessible defibrillators and more people prepared to use them.
He also said that there needs to be more people of all ages who are trained and willing to provide immediate cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
“We hope more regional race clubs will follow the lead of Bong Bong Picnic Race Club and have additional defibrillators available,” he said.
Mr Longmuir said it was also imporant to ensure “mandatory ambulance services on race days to help increase the survival rates of people going into cardiac arrest outside of hospital.”
The Bong Bong Picnic Race Club has purchased one defibrillator and the Bowral Show Society another to ensure two well-placed units to support best practice use of defibrillators for the large site.
