March 22, 2017
Murgon Local Ambulance Committee’s new CPR Awareness trailer made its official debut at the Murgon Show on Saturday.
The van is fitted with all the gear that LAC members need when making life-saving demonstrations at high schools or community groups.
Murgon LAC vice-president Bob Baldwin said that when someone had a heart attack, every minute treatment was delayed reduced the chances of survival.
For this reason, Local Ambulance Committees throughout Queensland have implemented a CPR Awareness program to help develop “bystander capability” in their local communities.
The Murgon trailer, which was purchased and fitted out with a grant from the Gambling Community Benefit Fund, includes a computer, projector and screens as well as the adult and baby-sized resuscitation dummies.
Recent research in Victoria has found that in one out of every three emergencies, bystanders did nothing.
However, 49 per cent of casualties who received bystander defibrillation before paramedics arrived left hospital alive.
The LAC’s CPR Awareness program aims to give participants the ability to:
- Recognise and safely respond to the signs and symptoms of a heart attack or cardiac arrest
- Perform CPR or instruct someone else, if that is needed
- Use a defibrillator to attempt to “shock” a heart back into rhythm
And all this for just a gold coin donation per participant!
“We would like to see everyone skillful in CPR,” LAC secretary Kerry Baldwin said.
“Anyone can do CPR and it makes a big difference in survival rates.”
For more information, contact Kerry on (07) 4169-0909.
