Service clubs contribute to heart safer Katanning

Katanning is becoming more heart safe thanks to the local St John Ambulance and support from the Rotary Club, Rural Youth, Apex and Lions Club.

The community organisations are contributing funds to St John to install defibrillators throughout town in an effort to help save lives in heart attack emergencies.

It is part of the St John Ambulance Community First Responder program, which enables individuals to provide immediate help to cardiac arrest victims before an ambulance arrives.

Between seven and nine of the life-saving defibrillator devices are planned to be installed in Katanning and surrounding towns, with proposed locations in Katanning including the town centre, near Woolworths and at the Country Club.

Community paramedic Sonia Huggins presented the idea to community clubs about how worthwhile the project would be.

“All the clubs that have come forward have been very generous with their support for the project,” she said.

Contacting other clubs in Katanning and helping organise the project was one of David Meyer’s final tasks as Rotary Club president.

“We have had our major fundraising events like the international night, so this is a good end result for a good community based project that we see would be helping St John’s with their response and also hopefully save a life,” he said.

The Rotary Club will contribute $15,000 towards the project.

Rural Youth and Apex are each providing funds to cover one defibrillator, which retail at $2900 apiece.

The Lions Club is also assisting with getting two or three of the devices to outlying towns. St John and the clubs are encouraging businesses to provide appropriate locations.

During a sudden cardiac arrest, every minute that the victim is not defibrillated they lose a 10 per cent chance of recovering. St John Ambulance WA Community First Responder System is designed to help improve the chances of survival.