Tasmania’s new defibrillator GoodSAM app to speeds heart attack response

A new smartphone app could mean lifesaving treatment arrives sooner for Tasmanians suffering potentially deadly cardiac arrests.

A new smartphone app could mean lifesaving treatment arrives sooner for Tasmanians suffering potentially deadly cardiac arrests.

Health Minister Guy Barnett on Wednesday launched the GoodSAM partnership, which links emergency services to volunteers willing to leap into action with a defibrillator.

Mr Barnett said when a cardiac arrest emergency call is made to the triple-zero emergency number, the GoodSAM app alerts nearby responders, providing the location of the patient as well as the closest publicly-accessible defibrillator.

GoodSAM maintains a register of those prepared to receive a mobile phone alert if a cardiac arrest occurs near them.

Health Minister Guy Barnett (second from left) with Ambulance Tasmania staff on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

“Every minute without CPR or defibrillation decreases a person’s chance of survival by 10 per cent,” Mr Barnett said.

“This new partnership allows people and organisations to register their defibrillators with the GoodSAM app, providing community first responders with access to the tools to save lives.

“While Tasmania invests more than any state in ambulance services per head of population, CPR and defibrillation in those crucial first minutes before the ambulance arrives can be the difference between life and death.

A GoodSAM responder using the app. Picture: Ambulance Victoria

“Through our Community Automated External Defibrillator Fund, the Tasmanian Government has been providing more lifesaving defibrillators with around 360 free AED’s distributed across Tasmania over the past ten years.”