Defib in Your Street: St John Ambulance looks to save more sudden cardiac arrest victims

It can happen to almost anyone, at anytime, anywhere — and the result is usually fatal. This latest program aims to save people from sudden cardiac arrest.

Jeff Waters, of Bentleigh, survived a sudden cardiac arrest. Picture: Wayne Taylor

The facts are sobering.

More than half of Aussie men aged over 40, a third of women over 40, will suffer a heart event in their lifetime.

Jeff Waters, of Bentleigh, is one of the lucky ones — he survived a sudden cardiac arrest on his bedroom floor in front of his wife and children.

“We had about three minutes warning before I collapsed and died. Thankfully there was already an ambulance on the road in our area. They arrived in seven minutes,” Mr Waters said.

“It took 56 minutes for them to get enough of a heartbeat to put me in an ambulance.”

Mr Waters woke up in the Monash Hospital more than week later.

Now, he is leading a push to put lifesaving defibrillators in publicly accessible places — including on the outside of residential homes.

“I am a pretty extraordinary case,’’ he said,

“This is why this initiative is important, because there is absolutely no doubt that it will save lives.”

St John Ambulance’s Defib Your Street campaign has kicked off in the northern suburb of Reservoir, with the aim of installing a defibrillator every 400m — with 28 machines to be rolled out.

Already the campaign has been a success.

A spokesperson from the Reservoir Neighbourhood House said just days after a publicly accessible defibrillator machine was installed, it saved a life.

“We had it installed on the Wednesday, and then it was used on the following weekend,” the spokesperson said.

Julie Williams, a councillor with the City of Darebin, is strongly backing the campaign.

“I have a rare heart condition myself, so I know all too well what it feels like to have the fear that I will have a cardiac arrest at any stage, and wonder whether I’d survive it or not,” Ms Williams said.

“We also have a large Indigenous population in Reservoir, and statistically we know that they have higher rates of cardiovascular issues. Having these machines is of great interest to our whole community for this reason.”

St John Ambulance are offering Reservoir residents and people with direct connection to the suburb through family or work 3000 free spots in its accredited CPR course, and wants to train another 15,000 people in the basic skills of CPR and defibrillation.

The campaign is modelled on program that began in Seattle, where cardiac arrest survival rates reached 56 per cent in 2019 after the public rollout of defibrillator machines and CPR training.

Sudden cardiac arrest can occur at any time, and to anyone. Nearly 7000 Victorians suffered from an SCA event in the last year, with only 5.7 per cent surviving.

Seventy nine per cent of all SCA events occur within the home, often in front of parents, children, husbands or wives, who inevitably watch their loved ones suffer and potentially die.

To get involved in the program, follow the link here.