Nathalia learns to Restart a Heart

Oct 17, 2024

Residents have been taught how to perform CPR and use an AED. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

This Restart a Heart Day, Ambulance Victoria and the Heart Foundation are celebrating the success of the Heart Safe Communities initiative in the Hume region.

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The towns of Nathalia and Tallangatta are recent gradates of the program, which aims to improve survival rates for cardiac arrest by working with communities to raise awareness and teach residents how to perform CPR and use an automated external defibrillator.

It also encourages people to sign up for the GoodSam app and encourages the community to install publicly accessible AEDs.

GoodSam is a life-saving smartphone app that connects Victorians in cardiac arrest with members of the community who are willing to start CPR in those crucial minutes before paramedics arrive.

In Nathalia, AV trained 240 community members, installed eight new AEDs, one of which is accessible to the public 24/7, and signed up two new active GoodSam responders.

AV acting regional director Hume Dale Armstrong congratulated everyone involved in raising awareness in these communities.

“Minutes matter in a cardiac arrest, and I’m so pleased these communities are now in a better position to save more lives, understanding the importance of bystander intervention and calling 000 immediately,” he said.

Heart Foundation Victoria general manager Chris Enright said the Heart Safe community initiative was vital to help improve the confidence and willingness of bystanders to take life-saving action.

“We know that unfortunately, the survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests is low, but when a bystander gives CPR and uses an AED within the first few minutes, a person’s chance of survival significantly improves,” he said.

“Expanding the Heart Safe Community program across Victorian towns will have a tangible impact on heart health at a local level and can ultimately save lives.”

Restart a Heart Day is held annually on October 16.

For more information, visit tinyurl.com/4a64x823