A partnership between OTR and St John Ambulance SA has seen the 50th public access defibrillator installed at the new OTR Aberfoyle Park store.
The lifesaving devices have been installed at various regional and metropolitan OTR sites, in a partnership that is particularly important to OTR, as two staff members have suffered cardiac arrests while in public in recent years.
OTR General Manager Darryl Cotter is proud to be part of an important partnership with St John Ambulance SA. With around 30,000 Australians suffering from sudden cardiac arrest each year, he says the partnership will ultimately save lives.
“OTR is at the heart of South Australia’s metropolitan and regional communities and we are proud to support an investment that can potentially save lives and promote awareness and use of defibrillators,” Cotter said.
St John Ambulance SA Chief Executive Officer Mark Groote said cardiac arrest could happen to anyone, at anytime, anywhere.
“Having public access defibrillators located in high traffic and high visibility areas is so important when it comes to cardiac arrest survival rates,” Groote said.
“For every minute that passes without defibrillation, the chances of survival decrease by 10 per cent. It is fantastic to see our partnership with OTR extending across so many sites, which will ultimately save lives in South Australia.”
In 2016, Subway Area Manager, Kristy Smith, suffered a cardiac arrest and received 16 electric shocks from a defibrillator, which saved her life.
In the same year, Peregrine Corporation, the parent company of OTR, also had an employee, Daniel Lowe, who suffered a sudden an unexpected cardiac arrest at the gym.
Lowe credits the defibrillator for saving his life and knows he might not be here if it hadn’t been accessible.
“I am proud to work for an organisation that is supporting the purchase and installation of these defibrillators where they are needed, particularly across regional South Australia,” he said.
The Automated External Defibrillators (Public Access) Bill 2020 is currently before parliament, in a bid to increase the installation of the life saving devices throughout the state. If passed as legislation, public access defibrillators will become mandatory in a wide variety of public buildings, facilities and vehicles, further contributing to improved outcomes for sudden cardiac arrest in South Australia.
All OTR public access defibrillators will be registered with SA Ambulance Service so triple zero callers will be directed to the nearest device in the event of an emergency, which may be at their local OTR store around the corner.
Pictured: L-R Mark Groote, Daniel Lowe, Darryl Cotter