15 January 2013

Circular Head Acting General Manager Tony Smart said Council’s recent purchase of a Heart Start Defibrillator (AED) was the first step in a wider initiative.

“This unit will be great to have on site in case of an emergency either involving Council staff or our customers,” Mr Smart said.

“The next step will be establishing a database of AED's in the Circular Head municipal area to ensure that people are aware of their location and can access them if needed.”

Mr Smart said the database would be publicly available and may help in emergency situations.

“We want people to know where an AED is available, particularly as the first 10 minutes of people having a cardiac arrest are critical,” Mr Smart said.

 “Often emergency services are more than 10 minutes away, so it would be fantastic if we could have a central register to know exactly where they are in an emergency.”

Mr Smart said in an emergency situation an AED did not replace the need to call 000 for an ambulance, but combined with CPR it can potentially be a life saving resource until an ambulance arrives. 

If you would like to be included on the Defibrillator Database please contact Garry Thorp 0488 615 129.