It takes some courage to volunteer to lead a fundraising campaign in these straitened times, but Judy Billington's faith in the people, resident and of the summer variety, of the Karikari Peninsula was well-founded.
Their generosity, matched by Kaitaia's business community, had knocked her over, she said last week when the Rangiputa Fire Brigade took delivery of the defibrillator countless people had contributed to.
"We decided at a meeting one night that we should buy one, so I started approaching people (with staunch support from right-hand woman Raewyn Nixon), and the response was extraordinary," she said.
Kaitaia businesses, the people on the peninsula, Aucklanders who come here in the summer have all been very generous."
The brigade spared no effort either to raise the more than $3000 needed for the machine that Chief Fire Officer Robin Billington had no doubt would save lives. (Two people had died at Rangiputa, one on the beach and one on a boat, over the last two or three years, he said, and while it could not be said that a defibrillator would have saved either there would inevitably be situations in the future where it would make the difference between life and death).
The fundraising had included a batons up (where one supporter simply emptied his pockets into the takings container), a country and western night (where the person in charge of the music forgot it but everyone enjoyed a meal all the same) and a twilight auction at the fire station last Saturday evening.
Judy emphasised that while the defibrillator would obviously be available to the fire brigade it was for the community, and would be kept at the White Sands Motel where everyone could access it.
The machine provides full instructions for the user, including a pulse that sets the beat for CPR, and while some instruction is needed it can literally be used by anyone. And anyone might well have to use it, Robin said.
"No one knows what's going to happen, and we all have to be ready," he added.
Meanwhile the brigade is deeply grateful to all who contributed.
"We don't go cap in hand often," Robin said, "so maybe that's part of the reason for everyone being so generous, but we'll be telling our sponsors how we've got on and they will all get a thank you letter."
Michael McGivern, a nurse employed by the peninsula's Northern Rural General Practice Consortium and a Resuscitation Council instructor, was at the fire station last week to demonstrate how the defibrillator worked, saying the machine would even tell the operator if CPR was being applied "hard enough." He too had no doubt that it would save lives, although speed would always be of the essence.
"After the first few minutes (following a cardiac arrest), without a defibrillator the chances of survival fall 10 per cent with every minute that passes," he said.