Cape Upstart community to put defibrillators in each bay after death
The tragic death of a man has prompted a community-wide bid to install a dozen defibrillators in a remote North Queensland holiday destination.
Townsville
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THE tragic death of a man has prompted a community-wide bid to install a dozen defibrillators in a remote North Queensland holiday destination.
Cape Upstart, a popular boat-only access village, is heavily restricted by tide and often relies on helicopters to respond to medical incidents.
A visitor to the community had a medical episode recently and locals were forced to perform CPR for about an hour while they waited for emergency services.
The death, which happened a few weeks ago, prompted Jill and Charlie Barbagallo to buy a defibrillator to install at their holiday home, and now it has triggered a movement to install another 12 in various locations at Cape Upstart.
“To know that they are there in case someone has a life threatening (incident). We’ll all know that they’re there,” Cape Upstart Progress Association president Alex Bojack said.
“The ambulance is a long way away and if you do have something you have to ring triple-0 for the helicopter … at least we know we have done all we can do. We’ll know we have done our best.”
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Mr Bojack said the idea had already drawn good support with plans for each willing hut owner to donate towards the cost of them. There are about 250 holiday homes in the area.
With the dredging for all tide access at Molongle Creek, promised in the 2017 state election yet to be finished and another maintenance dredging project afoot, Mr Bojack said the devices would be even more important.
“It’s important to have these things at the Cape as we have no access at low tide to get back to the mainland,” he said.
The death was not the first serious incident at the Cape this year.
In October a man was stranded for hours waiting for help after he stood on a stonefish.
Burdekin man Ross Pirrone was in agony after standing on the stonefish while collecting oysters on the shores of the Cape.
When a helicopter was unable to help, Mr Pirrone was forced to wait because the low tides meant he could not be boated back to Molongle Creek – the nearest access to the mainland.
Originally published as Cape Upstart community to put defibrillators in each bay after death