Page was the inspiration for the bowling club’s decision to call for community interest in receiving one of the life-saving, wall-mounted medical devices after club executives heard him speak in Sydney last year.
“We decided to buy 10 of them (defibrillators) after hearing Greg’s story,” Moama Bowling Club Marketing Manager George Santos said.
“It has taken a while for them to arrive, but we are now asking club’s to write to us if they are interested in having one of the defibrillators at their club.”
Page suffered the heart attack more than two years ago and shared his story at the 2021 Clubs and Community Awards in Sydney.
“He explained to the crowd how that he would not be alive if a defibrillator had not been on site,” Mr Santos said.
Page was performing at a bushfire relief concert with original Wiggles members Murray Cook, Anthony Field and Jeff Fatt when he suffered the heart attack.
A nurse at the concert performed CPR on Page before using a defibrillator in front of the crowd, and with thousands watching on live stream.
“Myself and Paul Barnes (bowling club chief executive officer), football club presidents Ash Byrne and Matt Lake, along with Liam Fleming (bowling club chief executive officer) all heard him speak about the incident.
“Not long after we decided that this was the direction that we would take,” Mr Santos said.
The defibrillators, worth more than $2000 each, come with complete training and applications are now being accepted by the club.
“We have three defibrillators on site at the moment, in critical areas, which have been used on occasion by our staff,” Mr Santos said.
All bowling club frontline staff, duty managers and senior managers, are trained to use the units, which will be delivered to the 10 clubs selected to receive the equipment in a storage case and with signage.
The bowling club said clubs without a defibrillator and those who could demonstrate how best the Heartsine Samaratin PAD defibrillator could assist their club would have an advantage during the process.
“We are looking for smaller groups that don’t have one and may not be able to afford one,” Mr Santos said.
The bowling club has donated defibrillators to clubs in previous years, including Echuca Moama Little Athletics Club, but always as individual presentations.
“These are brand new models and we’ve never donated 10 at once,” Mr Santos said.
