Goulburn local Geoff Hardy has donated a heart defibrillator to the police for Restart a Heart Day - a way of 'paying it forward' after they saved his life last year.
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Mr Hardy suffered a cardiac arrest in January 2019, and collapsed in the Goulburn Square. Fortunately, Senior Constable Joe Fitzgerald was nearby, and came to his aid. The policeman began CPR, helped by an off-duty nurse, until the paramedics arrived.
"They got me back with the living," Mr Hardy remembered.
But Mr Hardy was lucky; he could have been one of the thousands who die from cardiac arrests each year. According to the Council of Ambulance Authorities, only 10 percent of the 34,000 people who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest every year survive.
A patient's chances of survival fall by 10 per cent every minute a patient goes without CPR - and ambulances take on average eight minutes to reach the scene.
"In these times of uncertainty with the coronavirus pandemic, this is a reminder that CPR and automated external defibrillators save lives," Inspector Matt Hinton said.
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Mr Hardy and his wife Norma donated the defibrillator to the police on Friday morning. The machine will be installed in their First Responder vehicle.
"We wanted to pay it forward so that someone else's life can be saved," Mr Hardy said. "When somebody rings up and says there has been an accident, if the First Responder guys are first on the scene, they can do something until the ambulance gets there."
Inspector Matthew Hinton sincerely thanked the Hardys. "The donation today is welcomed," he said. "This adds an important piece of lifesaving equipment to one of our vehicles, which will be able to rapidly respond to an incident."
When a defibrillator is used within 10 minutes of a cardiac arrest, Insp. Hinton explained, the survival rates increase for cardiac arrest. The devices are made so that anyone can use them; they automatically assess patients, and only 'shock' the patient when needed.
The device does not replace NSW Ambulance; it provides an interim measure until paramedics arrive.
Mr Hardy encouraged the public to buy defibrillators for other businesses and services.
"If people can see their way clear to donating a defibrillator, if they've got a bit of spare cash and they want to do something to help the community, there are a lot of places that could save lives if they had the defibrillator," Mr Hardy said.
"Whether it be a sports club or the shopping center or First Responders, the more people that have them, the more chance we've got of saving lives."
Inspector Hinton also commended Senior Constable Fitzgerald's fast, life-saving response. "He acted without hesitation, and used his experience to quickly render aid."