More neighbourhoods across the country now have free access to defibrillators in their back yards, with Z Energy installing them at all its more than 200 retail sites.
Z, in partnership with St John, is rolling out the life-saving devices this week. They’ll be available to anyone in the community to use, whenever the Z site is open. At about 70 percent of sites they’ll be available 24/7 and can be taken off-site if needed.
Z Community Manager, Christine Langdon, said defibrillators could save the life of someone in cardiac arrest and there was a big need for communities to have easy access to one, whenever they needed it.
“Our communities are important to us, our people live and work there, our customers live and work there and we wanted to do something that would make a real difference.
"Now people will know exactly where to go in an emergency to get access to a defibrillator, no matter what time of the day or night it is,” Christine said.
Z’s network of sites up and down the country makes it perfectly placed to deliver more defibrillators into communities, especially after business hours.
“Auckland alone will now have 65 more defibrillators for the public to access. But this move is especially critical to smaller communities, like the West Coast of the South Island, which have been crying out for defibrillators,” Christine said.
The defibrillators talk users through the process, making them accessible to all.
St John Medical Director, Dr Tony Smith, says tor every minute without CPR or defibrillation, a patient’s chance of survival falls by 10-15 percent. AEDs shock the heart back into rhythm and are essential in the chain of survival for somebody suffering cardiac arrest.
“New Zealand’s low rate of public access to defibrillators remains an issue so AEDs at Z stations in New Zealand communities is an excellent step forward,” said Tony.
Kiwis can find their nearest defibrillator and opening hours on the AED locator website and the nearest Z and its opening hours on the company’s website. The defibrillators will be on all sites by 9 November.
ENDS
For further information please contact Z Communications Advisor, Georgina Ball:
+64 498 0132, +64 21 191 1433
FACTS:
- Applying CPR and rapid defibrillation can increase a patient’s chances of survival by up to 40 percent
- 38 people are treated for cardiac arrest by St John each week in New Zealand
- While 64 percent of patients had bystander CPR performed, only 4 percent of patients were defibrillated using a public access defibrillator
- AEDs shock the heart back into rhythm and are essential in the chain of survival for somebody suffering cardiac arrest
Source: St John, Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) report December 2015and St John medics