Campaign launches to install defibrillator in every Canberra suburb

In the event of a cardiac arrest, you really need a defibrillator on you within five minutes because the chance of survival plummets 10 per cent every minute after that.

Compare that to the average priority-one response time in Canberra, which is 16 minutes.

In the words of Ivan Slavich, CEO of SERVICE ONE Mutual in Deakin, “there’s an issue with the equation”.

For ‘Restart a Heart Day’, SERVICE ONE Mutual in Deakin, which works closely with Bendigo Community Bank Canberra, has teamed up with St John Ambulance ACT to launch a “life-saving initiative”.

Dubbed ‘StreetBeat’, the aim is to install an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) machine in every one of the ACT’s 120 suburbs.

There are already publicly available AEDs across Canberra, and you can easily find your closest using St John Ambulance’s ‘First Responder’ smartphone app.

But Mr Slavich says these are often inside office buildings and are only accessible from 9 to 5.

“What happens if you go into cardiac arrest at 7 pm or 6 am? We want to have these publicly available 24/7.”

The first, a tall cabinet, has been placed outside the Bendigo Bank office on Denison Street, Deakin.

It costs a total of $3000 to install an AED – including the weatherproof housing, so Mr Slavich estimates the total cost of the campaign at $360,000.

SERVICE ONE Mutual will pay for the weatherproof cabinet to house each one – about $500 each – and help cover the first 10 suburbs.

“We’ve created an easy-to-use online platform where community members can create accounts, nominate the suburb they wish to raise funds for, share their sponsorship pages with family and friends, and track their fundraising progress,” Mr Slavich explained.

“In the first week of the campaign, any contributions of up to $100 will be dollar matched by Bendigo Bank up to the value of $10,000, helping them quickly reach their $2500 target.”

The first goal is to have at least 20 installed within a year.

The locations are yet to be confirmed with the ACT Government, but Mr Slavich says they’ll be “central” in each suburb, in public places like shopping centres.

“Obviously, if there’s already one there, we’ll locate the second one further away so there’s maximum opportunity for people to get to one.”

St John Ambulance ACT will maintain the boxes, and to ward off thieves or vandals, each one will have an alarm and be fitted with a tracking device.

“If someone decides, ‘I really want an AED at home’ … they’ll literally have the police knocking at their door,” Mr Slavich said.

Cardiologist Dr Kashif Kalam from Heart of Canberra welcomed the campaign.

“These really are life-saving devices,” he said.

“Everyone should know how to do CPR … but CRP is the second best option. If you have an AED, and the person can be shocked, they are back to normal. They will literally get up then and there – it’s amazing.”

He added that the first box’s location, opposite the Deakin playing fields, is a “really good idea”.

“A lot of young individuals have cardiac arrests, and they’re almost always shockable cardiac arrests, especially the ones that happen in sportspeople.”

Once the campaign goes live later this month, Canberrans can register to join at Streetbeat.life.