St John launches pocket-sized AED in WA to help bring defibrillation closer 

• Portable AED now available through St John WA as part of national launch. 

• Designed to help deliver life-saving defibrillation wherever cardiac arrest strikes. 

• Can be registered on the State Defibrillator Network, or used by registered Community First Responders on the First Responder App. 

St John has today launched the St John Pocket AED in Western Australia as part of a national rollout of a new portable automated external defibrillator designed to travel with people, vehicles and teams. 

About the size of a soft drink can and weighing around 700 grams, the Pocket AED is designed to fit in a glovebox, backpack, first aid kit, toolbox or work bag — bringing defibrillation closer in the places fixed-location AEDs may not reach. 

More than 30,000 Australians experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year, and only about one in 10 survive.

Survival falls by about 7–10 per cent for every minute without CPR and defibrillation. 

St John-commissioned research also found one in three Australians have been in a medical emergency where they wished they, or someone nearby, had been better prepared. 

St John WA Chief Preventative Officer Megs O’Donnell said the Pocket AED was designed to complement existing public defibrillators, not replace them. 

“In a cardiac arrest, the first few minutes are critical,” Ms O’Donnell said. 

“The issue is not whether AEDs work — it is whether one can be reached quickly enough. 

“WA already has a strong State Defibrillator Network, with more than 13,000 registered AEDs, including more than 3,400 accessible 24/7. 

“But cardiac arrests do not always happen near a wall-mounted AED. They can happen on a farm, at a sporting oval, on a worksite, in a caravan park, in a vehicle or while someone is travelling between locations. 

“The Pocket AED gives people and organisations a practical and highly portable way to take lifesaving equipment with them.” 

Ms O’Donnell said the device also had clear relevance for WA’s First Responder App, which has more than 55,000 registered community responders. 

“When a Triple Zero (000) call indicates a suspected cardiac arrest in a public place, nearby registered responders can be alerted while an ambulance is on the way,” she said. 

“That is a uniquely powerful part of WA’s response system. 

“If our responders also have an AED with them, there is greater potential for someone to arrive in those first critical minutes with both the skills and the device needed to help. 

“For a state the size of WA, that matters.” 

The Pocket AED provides step-by-step voice prompts, analyses the patient’s heart rhythm and will only advise a shock if one is clinically indicated. 

Ms O’Donnell said the emergency response remains the same: call Triple Zero (000), start CPR and use an AED as soon as one is available. 

The St John Pocket AED is available from today through St John online and St John WA sales teams. 

The St John Pocket AED is designed as a first response tool, not a substitute for emergency medical care.

Always call Triple Zero (000) immediately in an emergency.