State Member for Wagga Dr Joe McGirr and Julie Hughes from the charity Heart of the Nation with the new Automated External Defibrillator stationed outside Dr McGirr’s office is Wagga’s main street, Baylis St. Photos: Marguerite McKinnon.
New statistics show you have a one-in-50 chance of suffering a heart attack in Australia, and if you go on to cardiac arrest, your survival rate is less than 5 per cent.
However, if someone tries to resuscitate you, your survival rate instantly doubles. Better still, if they use a defibrillator, your chance of survival more than triples.
This week, State Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr installed a publicly available Automated External Defibrillator (AED) at the front of his office in Baylis Street.
Working with the charity Heart of the Nation, the move is a practical way to try to save people experiencing cardiac arrest.
“These Automated External Defibrillators are becoming more and more common in the community, which is good, and what impressed me was how simple they are to use, and how they can save lives and make a real difference,” Dr McGirr said.
“Just being familiar with simple steps can make a big difference to the lives of people in the community.”
A capacity-filled training session with young families, seniors and workers was held at Wagga’s International Hotel, explaining how the AEDs can work to save a life.
A full house of young and old gathered for the information session on AEDs and CPR in Wagga.
Heart of the Nation trainer Julie Hughes lost her husband, Michael, when he was just 38 after he collapsed at home in cardiac arrest, despite her desperate efforts to save him.
“He was a beautiful man, a locksmith by trade,” Ms Hughes said.
“He had a newly diagnosed heart condition but myself and my family were not expecting cardiac arrest.”
Heart of the Nation founder and original “Yellow Wiggle” Greg Page (left) and the late Michael Hughes, whose death at age 38 inspired the national push for greater heart health awareness.
In Australia, there are more than 32,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests every year, or 89 a day. The overall survival rate is less than 5 per cent, but where resuscitation is attempted, it doubles, and if an AED (defibrillator) is used, survival rates more than triple.
“Any attempt at resuscitation is better than none,” Julie said.
“By supporting communities, we turn bystanders into first responders and give the public confidence to identify and access AEDs in time of need, and to recognise and perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).”
Heart of the Nation was started by original Yellow Wiggle Greg Page, who suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on stage in 2020 while performing in a bushfire relief fundraiser.
“He is very lucky to be here today,” Julie said.
“The reason he is here today is because people recognised what was happening. They stepped in and did CPR and used a defibrillator before the ambulance got there.
“Even though his wife is a cardiac nurse, Greg had no idea what cardiac arrest was before he suffered his own, and since then, he has dedicated his time and his profile to raise awareness.”
The Cox family lives on a farm and attended the information session after investing in an AED.
Juanita Cox and three of her children, Samuel, 9, Kathryn, 12, and Joseph, 16, attended the information evening put on by Dr McGirr and Heart of the Nation.
Juanita home-schools her family of five between Ladysmith and Book Book, and they invested in an AED after Juanita’s husband attended a first-aid session.
“We’re on a farm and it would take the ambulance a minimum of half an hour to get out to us, so if someone had a cardiac arrest we could use it,” Juanita said.
“It cost over $2000 but we figured that we spend money on car insurance and house insurance, and to us, a defibrillator is a little insurance for our lives.
“Just the confidence in knowing what to do and seeing how easy it is to operate is a relief. The machine tells you exactly what to do.”
