AMBULANCE Victoria seeks to locate 15,000 hidden defibrillators to improve cardiac arrest survival rates. Victorian individuals, community and sporting clubs are urged to register the life-saving devices in a bid to help more bystanders respond to people in cardiac arrest.
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Ballarat has been identified with particularly low registrations for Automatic External Defibrillators.
Data released last month showed a rise in active bystander help to medical emergencies and a clear increase in defibrillator use on 80 patients last year, up from 73 a year earlier. The Ambulance Victoria report also showed the Grampians region had one of the lowest rates of cardiac arrest incidents attended by emergency services in regional Victoria.
Registered defibrillators will be available in an online registry and help first responders through new Ambulance Victoria smartphone technology.
Chance of cardiac arrest survival increases by 62 per cent if a bystander has used a defibrillator before an ambulance arrives.
The call-out comes after new data showed more than 6,000 Victorians experience a cardiac arrest away from hospital each year. Register: ambulance.vic.gov.au/register.
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