Australia Post partnership delivers lifesaving equipment to the South West

These public access defibrillators are available 24 hours a day to the public and can be the difference between life and death in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest.

St John First Responder Manager Sally Simmonds said cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in WA and having access to a defibrillator will ensure people suffering a cardiac arrest can get immediate help while an ambulance is on the way.

“Each year in Australia about 22,000 people have a cardiac arrest out of hospital, but only 10 per cent of these people will survive,” Ms Simmonds said.

“Our ambulance stats for 2017 indicate that people who have been defibrillated by bystanders before the ambulance arrives have a 43 per cent survival to hospital discharge rate, compared to 15 per cent when one wasn’t used.”

“The best thing about these devices is they can be operated by anyone as the machine will provide instructions to the user.

“One of St John’s key drivers is to build community resilience and we do that through first aid and CPR training and through more defibrillators in public spaces,” Ms Simmonds said.

“Simply put, the more people in the community who know CPR, coupled with the ability to quickly access a defibrillator, the more lives we can save.”

Along with the defibrillator, communities will be given a free demonstration on its use.

“We are so pleased that Australia Post has recognised the important lifesaving benefits of external defibrillators and this could potentially be just the beginning of further rollouts in the future,” Ms Simmonds said.

The defibrillators will be located at the following post offices:

• Boyanup Post Office, Shop 1, 72 Bridge Street, Boyanup
• Bunbury Post Office, 153-155 Victoria Street, Bunbury
• Bunbury South Post Office, Shop 10, 123 Spencer Street, South Bunbury
• Burekup Post Office, 27 Russell Road, Burekup
• Busselton Post Office, 70 Prince Street, Busselton
• Capel Post Office, Unit 3, 34 Forrest Road, Capel
• Cowaramup Post Office, 2 O/Brien Street, Cowaramup 
• Donnybrook Post Office, 54 South Western Highway, Donnybrook
• Dunsborough Post Office, 26-34 Dunn Bay Road, Dunsborough
• Picton Post Office, 264 South Western Highway, Picton,
• Vasse Post Office, 28 Northerly Street, Vasse