St John Ambulance Victoria has delivered an automatic external defibrillator to Showbiz Cinemas for public use in the Delacombe community. 

This comes as St John calls for mandatory defibrillators in the workplace with low awareness across the state for where to access the life-saving device.

Showbiz Cinemas won the device in a competition and cinema director Christopher Jones said it was important, particularly being outside central Ballarat, for movie-goers and shoppers in Delacombe Town Centre to know it was there and easy to use.

“One of the benefits here is the long cinema opening hours,” Mr Jones said. “This is one of those things you ideally never want to have to use, but if you save one life in the future it is definitely worth it.”

One in three Victorians are aware of a defibrillator in the workplace, according to St John Ambulance research, while 46 per cent of Victorians know where a defibrillator is in a public location, like a shopping centre.

Ambulance Victoria is encouraging clubs, community groups and businesses to register AED devices on registermyaed.ambulance.vic.gov.au to help for quick and easy access in the event of sudden cardiac arrest.

Showbiz Cinemas is adding its device to the register.

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