Our Best Towns To Suffer A Heart Attack

June 11, 2012

If you suffered a heart attack in the South Burnett, which towns would give you greatest chance of survival? And which towns would you prefer NOT to be in?

Associate Professor Robyn Clark, from the Queensland University of Technology, has led a team which has developed an index that rates towns and suburbs across Australia by the level of emergency care available in the event of a heart attack; and the level of after-care available.

The Cardiac Accessibility and Remoteness Index for Australia (Cardiac ARIA) was developed over seven years.

It notes that “every minute counts” when a heart attack or stroke occurs, and that the first 60 minutes of experiencing symptoms of a heart attack (or any cardiac event) are the “golden hour” in which to receive treatment and achieve the best recovery results.

It turns out that Kumbia, Maidenwell and Durong are among the worst places in the South Burnett to suffer a heart attack; they’re all rated 6 on the scale of 1-8 and “C” on the after-care scale.

Cooyar and Kilkivan are also rated 6 but do better in after-care, earning an “A”.

The “best” towns in which to have a cardiac emergency are Murgon, Wondai, Kingaroy, Nanango and Yarraman – and the smaller towns in-between – which are all rated 4C.

Proston and Cherbourg are slightly worse, at 5C.

By comparison, many inner-city suburbs in Australia’s major capitals are rated 1A and many remote Aboriginal settlements in the Northern Territory are rated 8D.

Prof Clark noted that his group’s report found that 71 per cent of Australians lived in 1A addresses.

But unfortunately no South Burnett residents fit into this category.