{"id":4645,"date":"2012-06-11T20:42:39","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T10:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=4645"},"modified":"2012-09-23T13:41:27","modified_gmt":"2012-09-23T03:41:27","slug":"our-best-towns-to-suffer-a-heart-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/06\/11\/our-best-towns-to-suffer-a-heart-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Best Towns To Suffer A Heart Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 11, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Robyn Clark<\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n

The Cardiac Accessibility and Remoteness Index for Australia (Cardiac ARIA) was developed over seven years.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It turns out that Kumbia<\/strong>, Maidenwell<\/strong> and Durong<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

Cooyar and Kilkivan are also rated 6 but do better in after-care, earning an “A”.<\/p>\n

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

Proston and Cherbourg are slightly worse, at 5C.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Prof Clark noted that his group’s report found that 71 per cent of Australians lived in 1A addresses.<\/p>\n

But unfortunately no South Burnett residents fit into this category.<\/p>\n