Did you know that every year there are 30,000 deaths due to Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Australia?
St John Ambulance ACT wants to see wider access to life-saving defibrillators across the ACT and Cricket ACT is very lucky to be one of 10 sporting clubs who have benefited from St John's generosity.
On 2 August, Cricket ACT CEO, Olivia Thornton, attended a special presentation at Government House where some of Canberra’s major sporting codes were presented with a defibrillator by St John Ambulance to improve safety awareness and increase access to these life saving devices.
This is a total of three defibrillators our cricket community has received recently, with other recent donations from the Capital Chemist Group, and Barton Cricket Club and Heart of the Nation (collectively).
These defibrillators are donated to our clubs so that we can better protect our cricket community.
Sadly, one of our own cricket clubs, the Sultans cricket Club, experienced the loss of a much-loved cricket member last year who suffered cardiac arrest at the cricket field. The Sultans now have one of these donated defibrillators to prevent a similar situation should it arise.
While Australia has a nine per cent survival rate from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) this survival rate can be rapidly increased with the installation of accessible defibrillators right across Canberra
St John Ambulance ACT CEO, Adrian Watts, said he wants to see Canberra adopt a nation-leading approach where defibrillators are readily accessible and the majority of the population has been educated in CPR.
"We're calling on all the sporting codes in the ACT to adopt a safety-first approach to their players and spectators. We are working with ten of Canberra’s major sporting codes to enhance safety awareness and increase accessibility to defibrillators."
Cricket ACT is one of the lucky sporting codes to be working with St John Ambulance and as part of this our clubs have been invited to complete a survey regarding their preparedness of first aid kits, training and defibrillators to help us understand where we can assist them improve.
Ms Thornton encouraged clubs to look into the training services provided by St John Ambulance. For more information about services on offer, please see below.
We want to extend our sincere thanks to St John Ambulance Australia and its dedicated volunteers who are often on the sidelines at our sporting events to look after our players.
Thank you for helping us protect our cricket and broader sporting communities.
Thanks also to Their Excellencies the Governor-General of Australia & Mrs Hurley for their hospitality for the recent St John Ambulance event.
St John Ambulance First Aid courses in partnership with Cricket ACT:
Provide first aid 1 day course (includes CPR)
On successful completion of this course, students will be issued a statement of attainment in:
- HLTAID009 Provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
- HLTAID010 Provide basic emergency life support
- HLTAID011 Provide first aid
- $180 per student – Discounted to $160 per student
- Currency: 3 years, with CPR component updated annually
- 4-hour course offer for students who regularly renew their FA qualifications.
Provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
On successful completion of this course, students will be issued a statement of attainment in:
- HLTAID009 Provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation
- $85 per student – Discounted to $65 per student
- 4-hour course.
There is no extra charge to send a trainer to a club location as long as the minimum attendee requirement is met and a suitable training area is available.
Several training rooms are also available at the St John Ambulance Deakin office.
First Aid Products
As part of St John Ambulance ACT's commitment to safety and making first aid available to everyone, a range of best practice first aid kits, consumables and signage is available.
St John's offers first aid kit restocking services to ensure kits are compliant and clubs are prepared in case of accidents and injuries.
Below are suggested first aid kits that would be suitable for Cricket ACT clubs:
- Workplace National Mobile First Aid Pack RRP $262.50 discounted to $195.00. St John Ambulance AED backpack designed to securely carry your AED in mobile situations plus first aid kit.
Event Health Services
St John Ambulance ACT is able to provide Event first aid services that are efficiently delivered to consistently high-quality standards by skilled and experienced Event Responders, Doctors, Paramedics and Nurses.
St John's 200+ engaged members are renowned for being responsive, well-presented, courteous and friendly in their delivery of professional care.
Members are supported by an extensive range of vehicles, medical equipment, medications and consumables to support patients with minor injuries through to those patients that require definitive care.
For more information contact St John Ambulance, ACT:
- Phone – 02 6282 2399
- Email (course booking) – coursebookings@stjohnact.org.au
- Email (sales) – sales@stjohnact.org.au