Defibrillators a must at venues

Many of the 7000 people who die each year from cardiac arrest could be saved if there was much greater access to defibrillator machines, says the Order of St John.

Its senior tutor in health care, Mrs Su Robins, has called for defibrillator machines to be available at all major public venues in New Zealand.

"Individuals suffering sudden cardiac arrest have a 70 per cent chance of being successfully resuscitated if defibrillated within the first minute," she says.

"The chances of successful resuscitation diminishes by between 7 and 10 per cent with every subsequent minute.

"Because it takes on average, eight minutes for an ambulance to arrive after a 111 call, most cardiac arrest patients are no longer able to be successfully defibrillated by paramedics." Mrs Robins says that about 7000 people die from fatal cardiac arrest in New Zealand per year, many of whom could have been saved with greater access to a defibrillator.

She says New Zealand should follow the lead of the United States, where many major public venues such as sports stadiums, shopping malls and entertainment centres have defibrillator machines available for emergency use.

"It's easy to train people to use a defibrillator - far easier than teaching cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. CPR is still important however, as it extends the time whereby the heart may be successfully defibrillated."