The Pyalong Defibrillator Team, which was established by the Pyalong Neighbourhood House in 2008, has been nominated for the Kleenheat Gas Community of the Year Award – Population under 5000 category, with the winners to be announced at a Gala Awards Dinner in October.
The project had its beginnings in mid 2007 when first aiders at Pyalong Neighbourhood House learned of a device known as the Automatic External Defibrillator. The AED is a portable device used to restore normal heart rhythm to patients experiencing cardiac arrest.
The Pyalong First Aid group learned that, since most cardiac arrests occur outside of hospital, it is important to administer immediate and appropriate treatment to increase survival rates. They also learned that, while CPR can buy some time, patients who have been in vetricular fibrillation for longer than 10 minutes rarely survive, even if treatment reaches them soon after. In that scenario patients have a survival rate of just 4% whereas early defibrillation can improve the survival rate to an amazing 74%.
Given that ambulance times for Pyalong can be 15-20 minutes, this was a potential problem for people living in and around the town.
So it was the community agreed that the establishment of a trained and properly equipped defibrillator team was a must for Pyalong and the Neighbourhood House set about raising the money and support necessary to turn this into a reality.
The Neighbourhood House conducted an extremely successful fundraising campaign in late 2007. They received much support from MP’s Ben Hardman and Donna Petrovich and ongoing advice and assistance from Rural Ambulance Victoria.
By early 2008 they were able to purchase the necessary equipment and fulfill their ambition to establish a Defibrillator Team in the town, equipped with defibrillator and mobile phone.
A team of volunteers took part in training sessions involving CPR and use of the defibrillator and once the service was up and running in early 2008, information leaflets were sent to everyone living within a 10km radius of Pyalong, together with an emergency 000 sticker and a personal medical information sheet to be filled out and kept for future emergencies.
Volunteers are now on call 24/7 and when a call is made to 000 the Defibrillator Team is called out at the same time as the ambulance.
At the launch of the Defibrillator Team in February 2008, Mr. Gary Cook, Rural Ambulance Victoria Regional General Manager said this was a “step in history” as this is the first arrangement of this type in Victoria, which could possibly become a pilot for similar projects in other remote rural townships.
Training of defibrillator teams continues and includes regular “mock” call-outs for volunteers. Meanwhile, the Team was presented with oxygen equipment in February 2009, along with the assurance of continued support from Ambulance Victoria.
