Keep hearts beating this Restart a Heart Day

Today on Restart a Heart Day, Tasmanians are being urged to learn how to save a life by reviewing how to perform CPR and use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) when someone is in cardiac arrest.

Every year, around 30,000 Australians and New Zealanders suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and only 1 in 10 people survive.  

Minister for Health, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Bridget Archer, said we all need to remember the three crucial steps – CALL, PUSH, SHOCK.

“If assisting someone in cardiac arrest, make sure you check the person’s response and ring Triple Zero (CALL), begin CPR (PUSH) and if available, switch on an AED and follow the instructions (SHOCK),” Minister Archer said.

“Every minute a patient is in cardiac arrest, not receiving CPR or AED shock, chances of survival drop by 10% and after 10 minutes without intervention, the damage caused by cardiac arrest is nearly irreversible.

“The Tasmanian Government committed $500,000 over two years in last year’s budget to provide more life-saving defibrillators to communities through the Community Defibrillator Fund.

“90 life-saving defibrillators were delivered in May this year for community groups and businesses to host on their premises.

“After a device is placed in the community, it can be located through the GoodSAM Responder phone app, which supports cardiac arrest responses by alerting nearby registered responders and providing the location of patients and the closest defibrillators.

“We are delivering for Tasmania, with about 450 free life-saving defibrillators installed in Tasmanian communities since 2014.”