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The Agency has teamed up with former Australian Ironman champion Guy Leech to roll out life-saving automated external defibrillators in all of its offices.
CEO Matt Lahood has committed to the roll-out nationally, starting with Sydney, and to train staff on the correct use of the equipment.
Mr Lahood said that the statistics are confronting.
“In Australia, approximately 30,000 people sustain cardiac arrests outside hospitals and are treated by emergency medical services.
“Currently, on average, only 9 per cent of victims survive. Research and practice shows survival can be dramatically increased with the distribution of automated external defibrillators.”
Mr Lahood said that the widespread availability of defibrillators has been proven to increase cardiac arrest survival rates.
“While in Australia the average survival rate is 9 per cent, in Seattle in the United States the survival rate from cardiac arrest is 62 per cent thanks to their citywide program.”
Guy Leech said that about 600 people have cardiac arrests every week, and with a defibrillator close by, there is a 70 per cent chance of survival.
“At the moment, there is a 9 per cent chance of living if you’re waiting for an ambulance. For example, the average callout time for an ambulance is 13 minutes in Sydney. Every minute wasted lowers the chance of survival by 10 per cent,” Mr Leech said.
“It is not just the elderly or unfit that are vulnerable to cardiac arrest; 12 young people die each week of sudden cardiac arrest.”
Mr Leech said that a friend had a heart attack while training and that led him to partner with Physio Control to distribute the machines.
“I had to do CPR on him until the ambulance arrived. Sadly, he passed away. Had we had a defibrillator on hand, it could have made a difference. I didn’t want the situation to go by without something positive coming from it. I now carry a defibrillator in my car.”
Mr Leech’s connection to The Agency is through lower north shore agent Jon Snead.
“I’ve known Guy for many years through paddling. We’ve trained together over the past eight years. It was two years ago when we lost a member of our training group, Charles ‘Chucky’ Stuart, to cardiac arrest. He was a life-long friend of Guy.”
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