ST JOHN NT
NEWSROOM

St John NT is helping the Alice Springs Town Council to make public safety a top priority.

Thanks to a Northern Territory Government community benefit fund grant, five community sports clubs in Alice Springs have been chosen as locations of lifesaving automatic external defibrillators (AED) from St John NT.

The locations are:

• Anzac Oval Clubrooms
• Flynn Drive Oval Clubrooms
• Jim McConville Oval Clubrooms
• TIO Traeger Park Hockey Clubrooms
• Alice Springs 50+ Community Centre

“We believe these organisations will greatly benefit from the installation of defibrillators due to their central locations and the frequency of use of these facilities,” Mayor Damien Ryan said.

 “Placing defibrillators in these locations means we are creating safer communities for Alice Springs residents.”

Alice Springs has a large Indigenous population, and generally sees an increased amount of senior visitors, or Grey Nomads, coming through in the dry season.

As a result, cardiac issues are prevalent in the community.

“We want to encourage people to participate in physical activity, and have the knowledge that their safety is of the highest priority,” said Mayor Ryan.

In Australia 33,000 people suffer from a cardiac arrest each year. Contrary to popular belief, sudden cardiac arrest can happen at any age, and without a defibrillation, less than 5% of sufferers will survive.

“Early defibrillation is the key to success in a cardiac arrest, and if a defibrillator can be used before paramedics arrive, it can greatly increase the chance of survival” said St John NT CEO Judith Barker.

“St John NT is dedicated to improving the safety of our community. The AEDs will provide these sports clubs with the peace of mind knowing they will be able to act in an emergency.”

The new St John branded Automated External Defibrillators are simple to use, powerful and give more people the chance to act in an emergency.

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Image: St John NT CEO Judith Barker presented the AEDs to Mayor Damien Ryan and Acting Director Technical Services Dilip Nellikat at the Alice Springs Town Council.